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Article: Chateau de Versailles orange-tree planters.(Design notes)
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- August 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On August 17, 1661, Louis XIV attended a fete given in his honor by France's superintendent of finance, Nicolas Fouquet, at his new estate, Vaux-le-Vicomte in Maincy. At this event, the king (who had only recently assumed total responsibility for governing his kingdom) saw the finest chateau and garden in France. Led to believe that funds had been embezzled from the state treasury to build Vaux-le-Vicomte, he responded by having Fouquet arrested and thrown into jail. He then seized the finance ministers design team--the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun, and the landscape architect Andre Le Notre--commanding them to renovate and expand his royal ...