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Article: Views of the Gardens at Marly: Louis XIV: Royal Gardener.(Review)
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- November 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 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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Marly, Louis XIV's last dream
At the end of Moliere's Misanthrope, Alceste, fed up with his fellow man, flees to "le desert" (the desert). The translation is literal but misleading. Alceste was in fact off to his country estate, fully staffed and with every comfort. Just so when Louis XIV "weary of splendour and crowds... became persuaded that sometimes he desired simplicity and solitude," as the duc de Saint-Simon (1675-1755) put it, he created Marly-le-Roi, a Shangri-la of pavilions, parks, gardens, and waterworks just six kilometers from Versailles.
The site was described by the dyspeptic Saint-Simon as "a deep, narrow, steep-sided valley, cut off by ...