The Sun King's Garden

by Ian Thompson

War-monger, womanizer and autocrat, Louis XIV, Frances's self-styled 'Sun-King', was also history's most fanatical gardener. At Versailles, twelve miles outside Paris he created not only Europe's most lavish palace but the most extensive gardens the Western world has ever seen. The Domaine Nationale de Versailles now covers 2,100 acres (about two and a half times the size of New York's Central Park) but in it's heyday under Louis, the grand parc covered an astounding 16,343 acres. Assisting Louis in all this was a lowly-born gardener, Andre Le Notre, whose character and temperament were as different from those of his sovereign as it is possible to conceive. Where Louis was ruthless and relentlessly driven, celebrating his military and amorous conquests with ever more lavish plans for his gardens, Le Notre was down to earth, witty and amiable.- and phenomenally talented. While Louis could strike fear into the highest in the land with just a look, Le Notre enjoyed the king's trust and friendship for more than 40 years. In this lavishly illustrated book, Ian Thompson tells more comprehensively then ever before the intertwined stories of an extraordinary garden and an extraordinary friendship.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, France, Gardening, Royalty, Architecture

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2006

Reviews

[Leonardo Etcheto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gardening as politics. Fascinating story, a good history lesson as well. The main thing missing are more maps or layouts of the changes over time. An absolutist monarch creates an absolutist garden, where nature is shaped as Louis wanted. The power of beauty is shown in the fact that it survived the turmoil and lack of resources later. The work put into making the fountains work was massive, the main problem being it was not easy to recycle the water like we do now with electric pumps and a sump. It was all feed from a reservoir at higher elevation and you got one use. Needed an entire river to make it all function and in a classic case of always wanting more, as soon as more water was provided more fountains would be built and scarcity returned. Oh the humanity!

[Robyn Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in preparation for my trip to France in April. I have been to Versailles several times but next time I will be better informed.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fine idea. Not the best implementation; more like a 2.5. Too much politics and Louis XIV, not enough Le Notre; too cerebral, not enough emotion or sense of Versailles as a place, particularly in the second half.

I wonder if Nancy Mitford's biography of Louis XIV (over 40 years old) was really the best source to use. The illustrations were well-selected, though. It was interesting how many of them involved cupids.

Illustrations I particularly liked:
Habit de Jardinier, credited here to Nicholas de Larmessin; kind of a reverse Arcimboldo thing. In the book this colored version appears, credited to Anonymous.

A bunch of Jean Cotelle pieces:

View of the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe

Entrance to the labyrinth

View of the Water Theater Bosquet

Bosquet du Marais

Orangerie and Pièce d'Eau des Suisses

Other artists:

Gallery of Antiques, Jean Joubert

Illumination of the Belvedere, by Claude-Louis Chatelet

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Step back in time to an Age when Kings ruled by "Divine Right." Ian Thompson paints a portrait of the gardens of Louis XIV that is both exquisite and painful. Exquisite gardening techniques were the norm for Andre Le Notre. However, the pain inflicted on the people of France by the whims of Louis XIV is evident.

Le Notre was a Rembrandt in the world of gardening. However, Thompson does not hesitate to point out both the rivalries and the friendships that Andre Le Notre had in his very long life. His almost intimate friendship with Louis XIV is remarkable in of itself since the King was not known for making friends outside of his circle. Le Notre's rivalry with Jules Hardouin-Mansart is notable for the fact that Le Notre did not stoop to the tactics of his rival.

For most of his adult life, Andre Le Notre toiled in the gardens of the King of France. His legacy though, can be seen in gardens all over the world.

If you love history and gardening with a dash of court intrigue, then this is the book for you.

[AskNezka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a narrative history of the creation of the gardens at Versailles during the reign of Louis XIV, which occurred with great intrigue, plots, and diverse personalities. Interesting background story, and the color plates of the artistic representations of the gardens, as well as the plans for plantings, are exquisite.