THE GARDENS OF VERSAILLES AND THE TRIANONS
Versailles without its court of marble, its fountains, its gardens and
its park, and the attendant Grand and Petit Trianons, would hardly have
the attraction that it has to-day.
The ensemble is something of more vast and varied extent than is to be
seen elsewhere, though its aspect has somewhat changed from what it was
of old, and the crowds of Sunday and holiday visitors give the courts
and alleyed walks somewhat the aspect of a modern amusement resort.
The gardens of Versailles were but the framing of a princely dwelling
created to respond to the requirements of a court which was attempting
to do things on a grand scale. Everything was designed with most
magnificent outlines; everything was royal, in all verity--architecture,
garden-making, fetes, receptions and promenades. What setting, then,
could have been more appropriate to the life of the times?
Versailles, the town, had never prospered, and has never proved
sufficiently attractive to become a popular suburb; and, though to-day
it passed the mark of half a hundred thousand population, it never would
have existed at all had it not been for the palace of Louis XIV.
Were it not for the palace and its attributes, Versailles would have
absolutely no memories for visitors, except such as may have lunched
well at the Hotel des Reservoirs or the Hotel du Trianon. That is not
everything, to be sure; but it is something, even when one is on an
historic pilgrimage.
Even in the day of Louis XVI the popular taste was changing and
Versailles was contemptuously referred to as a world of automota, of
cold, unfeeling statuary and of Noah's Ark trees and forests. There was
always a certain air of self-satisfaction about it, as there is, to-day,
when the Parisian hordes come out to see the waters play, and the
sight-seers marvel at the mock splendour and the scraps of history doled
out for their delectation by none-too-painstaking guardians.
In spite of all this, no sober-minded student of art or history will
ever consider Versailles, the palace and the park, as other than a
superb and a spectacular demonstration of the taste of the times in
which it was planned, built and lived in.
Versailles was begun in 1624 by Louis XIII, who built here a humble
hunting-lodge for the disciples of Saint Hubert of whom he was the royal
head. So humble an erection was it that the monarch referred to it
simply as a "_petite maison_" and paid for it out of his own pocket, a
rare enough proceeding at that epoch.
The critical Bassompierre called it a "_chetif chateau_," and
Saint-Simon referred to it as a "house of cards." Manifestly, then, it
was no great thing. It was, however, a comfortable country-house,
surrounded by a garden and a more ample park.
It was not Lemercier, the presiding genius of the Louvre at this time,
but an unknown by the name of Le Roy, whom Louis XIII chose as his
architect.
Boyceau traced the original _parterres_ with a central basin at a
crossroads of two wide avenues. Each of the four compartments thus made
was ornamented with _broderies_ and trimmed hedges, and the open spaces
were ingeniously filled with parti-coloured sands, or earth. A
_parterre_ of flowers immediately adjoined the palace and rudimentary
alleys and avenues stretched off towards the wood. Although designed by
Boyceau, this work was actually executed by his nephew, Jacques de
Menours, who, with difficulty, collected his pay. His books of account
showed that in five years, from 1631 to 1636, he had drawn but once a
year a sum varying from fifteen hundred to four thousand _livres_ while
in the same period the king had spent on the rest of the work at
Versailles two hundred and thirty-eight thousand _livres_, thirty-two
_sols_, six _deniers_, nearly one million one hundred thousand francs of
the money of to-day.
The first of the outdoor embellishments of the palace at Versailles is
the great Cour Royale, or the Cour d'Honneur, which opens out behind the
long range of iron gates facing upon the Place d'Armes. At the foot of
this entrance court is an extension called the Cour de Marbre. This Cour
de Marbre, on January 5, 1757, was the scene of the infamous attack on
Louis XV by Damiens, just as the king was starting out for the Trianon.
A thick redingote saved the king's life; but for "this mere pin-prick,"
according to Voltaire, the monarch went immediately to bed, and five
times in succession sought absolution for his sins. Sins lay heavy even
on royal heads in those days.
Damiens was but a thick-witted, superstitious valet, who, more or less
persecuted by the noble employers with whom he had been in service at
various times, sought to avenge himself, not on them, but on their king,
as the figurehead of all that was rotten in the social hierarchy. Louis,
heretofore known as the "Bien Aime," had become suddenly unpopular
because of the disastrous war against England and Germany, and his
prodigal dissipation of public moneys.
Stretching out behind the palace are the famous gardens, the
_parterres_, the _tapis vert_, the fountains and the grand canal, with
the park of the Trianons off to the right.
Good fortune came to Louis XIV when he found Andre Le Notre, for it was
he and no other who traced the general lines of the garden of the
Versailles which was to be. He laid a generous hand upon the park and
forest which had surrounded the manor of Louis XIII, and extended the
garden to the furthermost limits of his ingenuity. Modifications were
rapid, and from 1664 the _parterres_ and the greensward took on entirely
new forms and effects. The Parterre des Reservoirs became the Parterre
du Nord, and an alley of four rows of lindens enclosed the park on all
sides. The Parterre a Fleurs, or the Jardin du Roy, between the chateau
and the Orangerie, was laid out anew.
By the following year the park began to take on the homogeneity which
it had hitherto lacked. The great Rondeau, as it was called, and which
became later the Bassin du Dragon, was excavated, and the Jardin Bas, or
the Nouveau Parterre, with an oval depression, was also planned.
[Illustration: _Cour de Marbre, Versailles_]
At one end of the park was the celebrated Menagerie du Roy, where the
rare and exotic animals collected by the monarch had "a palace more
magnificent than the home of any other dumb animals in the world." This
was the first period of formal garden construction at Versailles, and it
was also the period when the first great impetus was given to sculptural
decoration.
In 1679, following a journey in Italy, Le Notre took up again the work
on the gardens at Versailles, devoting himself to the region south of
the palace which hitherto had been ignored. This was Le Notre's most
prolific period.
The creations at Versailles can be divided into two distinct epochs,
that before 1670 and that coming after. After Le Notre's generous
design, the king and queen were seemingly never satisfied with the
endless plotting and planting which was carried on beneath the windows
of the palace, and in many instances changed the colour schemes and even
the outlines of Le Notre's original conceptions.
The Versailles of to-day is no longer the Versailles of Louis XIII, so
far as the actual disposition of details goes. Then there was very
little green grass and much sand and gravel, a scheme of decoration
which entered largely into the seventeenth century garden. This refers
principally to the general effect, for Le Notre made much use of the
enclosing battery of lindens, chestnuts and elms of a majestic and
patriarchal grandeur which have since been cut and replaced by smaller
species of trees, or not replaced at all.
No sooner were the ornamental gardens planned at Versailles than the
Potager du Roy, or fruit and vegetable garden, was created. This same
garden exists to-day with almost its former outlines. Here a soil
sufficiently humid, and yet sufficiently well drained, contributed not a
little towards the success of this most celebrated of all kitchen
gardens the world has known.
The work of installing a further system of artificial drainage was
immediately begun, and the Eaux des Suisses was created, to take the
place of a former stagnant pool near by. Undoubtedly it was a stupendous
work, like all the projects launched with regard to Versailles, but,
like the others, it was brought to a speedy and successful conclusion.
The details of the history of this royal vegetable garden are fully set
forth in a work published in 1690 by the son of the designer, the Abbe
Michel de la Quintinye, in two bulky volumes. "It was meet that a royal
vegetable garden should have been designed by a 'Gentleman Gardener,'"
said the faithful biographer in his foreword, and as such the man and
the work are to be considered here.
The work was accomplished by the combined efforts of a gracious talent
and the expenditure of much money, put at La Quintinye's disposition by
his royal master, who had but to put his hand deep into the coffers of
the royal treasury to draw it forth filled with gold. Critics have said
that La Quintinye's ability stopped with the preparation of the soil,
and with the design of the garden, rather than with the actual
cultivation, but at all events it was he who made the garden possible.
La Quintinye adopted Arnauld d'Andilly's method of planting fruit trees
_en espalier_ by training them against a wall-like background, and to
accomplish this divided the garden plot, which covered an area of eight
hectares (twenty acres), into a great number of subdivisions enclosed by
walls, in order to multiply to as great an extent as possible the
available space to be used for the _espaliers_. Again, these same walls
served to shelter certain varieties which were planted close against
them. If this Potager du Roy was not actually the first garden of its
class so laid out, it was certainly one of the most extensive and the
most successful up to that time.
The great terraces of at least two metres in width surrounded the
central garden, leaving a free area for the latter which approximated
three hectares.
These terraces were divided into twenty-eight compartments, forming nine
distinct varieties of gardens.
The celebrated gardener of Louis XIV sought not only to obtain fruits
and vegetables of a superior quality and an abundant quantity, but was
the first among his kind to produce early vegetables, or _primeurs_, in
any considerable quantity, and, by a process of forced culture, he was
able to put upon the table of the monarch asparagus in December, lettuce
in January, cauliflower in March and strawberries in April. All these
may be found at the Paris markets to-day, and at these seasons, but the
growing of _primeurs_ for the Paris markets has become a great industry
since the time it was first begun at Versailles.
Of asparagus La Quintinye said, "It is a vegetable that only kings can
ever hope to eat."
The Potager du Roy was begun in 1678, and completed in 1683. It cost,
all told, one million one hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and
eighty-three _livres_ of which four hundred and sixty-seven thousand
three hundred and sixty-four went for constructions in brick and stone,
walls, enclosures and drains. Its annual maintenance (1685) amounted to
twenty thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine _livres_. The effort proved
one of great benefit to its creator, for La Quintinye, at the completion
of this work, received further commissions of a like nature from the
Prince de Conde, the Duc de Montansier, Colbert, Fouquet and others.
So great a marvel was this vegetable garden at Versailles that it was
the object of a pilgrimage of the Doge of Venice in 1685, and of the
Siamese ambassadors in the following year. The garden has been preserved
as an adjunct to Versailles up to the present day. For two centuries its
product went to the "Service de Bouche" of the chief of state, that is,
the royal dinner table; but in 1875 the Minister of Agriculture
installed there the French National Horticultural College, which to-day,
with a widened scope, has admitted ornamental plants and trees to this
famous garden. Nevertheless the general outlines have been preserved,
though certain of the terraces have disappeared, as well as many of the
walls of the original enclosure, thus reducing the number of garden
plots; in fact but sixteen distinctly defined gardens remain, including
the Clos aux Asperges.
The general lines of the garden design of Le Notre and Boyceau at
Versailles are to be noted to-day, but if anything the maintenance of
the gardens is hardly the equal of what it was in the time of Louis XIV
and a seeming disaster has fallen upon Versailles as these lines are
being written.
The military authorities have set aside, as a site for an aerostation
camp, some twenty-five acres of the park near Rocquencourt. This is one
of the loveliest parts, shaded by magnificent trees which, presumably,
will have to be sacrificed, since, if left standing, they would
certainly interfere with maneuvering with military aeroplanes,
dirigibles and balloons.
At a time when deforestation is recognized to be one of the greatest
dangers that menace a country's prosperity, one of its consequences
being such inundations as those which recently devastated Paris and the
Seine valley, it is regrettable that the forest surrounding Versailles
should be depleted.
[Illustration: _The Potager du Roy, Versailles_]
Furthermore, the realization of the project means a loss of revenue to
the state which at present derives some sixty thousand francs a year
from the farming lease of this portion of the park.
Therefore, for material considerations, as well as because Versailles
and its surroundings should be preserved intact as a noble relic of one
of the grandest periods of French history, one of the most beautiful
creations of French genius, the project attributed to the military
authorities is short-sighted. To diminish the attractions of Versailles
would certainly prove an unwise policy, as the stream of tourists, which
is the chief source of profit to Versailles and its population, would
inevitably be diverted to some other channel.
Only a short time ago a Societe des Amis de Versailles was created for
the purpose of safeguarding its artistic and natural beauties. The
government gave the organization its approbation and there is something
delightfully ironical in the fact that the military authorities of the
same government are planning to destroy what the society, fathered by
the Ministere des Beaux Arts, was formed to preserve.
Another modern aspect of the park of Versailles was noted during the
late winter when, after a sharp freeze, all the youth of Paris had
seemingly gone out to Versailles for the skating only to be met by a
freshly-posted notice which read:
Defense
De Patiner Par
Arrete du 17 Decembre, 1849
These signs were posted here and there about the park, in the courtyard,
on the postern gate, on trees, everywhere. The authorities were bound
that there should be no flagrant violation of the order of 1849.
"You see," said one of the park guardians, "_c'est defendu_; but as we
are only two and the crowd is very large we can do nothing." This was
evident. Thousands overran the Grand Canal, which at its greatest depth
was scarcely more than a yard to the bottom, and so, despite of
monarchial decree, Republican France still skates on the ornamental
waters of Versailles when occasion offers.
"_N'oubliez pas le petit balayeur, s'il vous plait_," was as often heard
as "_Allez vous-en_."
On the whole it was rather a picturesque sight. A thick haze hung over
the now white "Tapis Vert," and the nude figures of the Bassin d'Apollon
were clothed in a mantle of snow, while the white-robed statues of the
Allee Royale, one could well believe, shivered as one passed.
[Illustration: _The Bassin de Latone, Versailles_]
The fountains of Versailles, the "Grands Eaux" and "Petits Eaux," which
shoot their jets in air "semi-occasionally" for the benefit of Paris's
"good papas" and their children, are distinctly popular features, and of
an artistic worth neither less nor greater than most garden accessories
of the artificial order. The fact that it costs something like ten
thousand francs to "play" these fountains seems to be the chief memory
which one retains of them in operation, unless it be the crowds which
make the going and coming so uncomfortable.
The Orangerie lies just below the terrace of the Parterre du Midi, and a
thousand or more non-bearing orange trees are scattered about. They are
descendants of fifteenth century ancestors, it is claimed--but
doubtfully.
The great basin of water known as the Eaux des Suisses was excavated by
the Swiss Guard of Louis XIV to serve the useful purpose of irrigating
the Potager du Roy, and as a decorative effect of great value to that
part of the garden upon which faces the fourteen-hundred-foot front of
the palace.
Still farther off towards the Bois de Satory, after crossing the Tapis
Vert, lie the famous Bassins de Latone and Apollon, the Bassin du
Miroir and, finally, the Grand Canal, with one transverse branch leading
to the Menagerie (now the government stud-farm) and the other to the
Trianons.
The satellite palaces known as the Grand and Petit Trianons are, like
the Palace of Versailles itself, of such an abounding historical
interest that it were futile to attempt more than a mere intimation of
their comparative rank and aspect.
The rather sprawling, one-story, horseshoe-shaped villa built by Louis
XIV for Madame de Maintenon, and known as the Grand Trianon, was an
architectural conception of Mansart's.
It is worth remarking that the Grand Trianon, to-day, is in a more
nearly perfect state than it has been for long past, for the
restorations lately made have removed certain interpolations manifestly
out of place.
It is due to M. de Nolhac, the Conservateur du Musee de Versailles, that
this happy amelioration has been brought about and that Mansart's
admirable work is again as it was in the days of Madame de Maintenon and
those of the later Napoleon I.
[Illustration: _The Fountain of Neptune, Versailles_]
In spite of all this the Trianon of to-day is not what it was in the
eighteenth century. "Madame de Maintenon," said de Musset, "made of
Versailles an oratory, but La Pompadour turned it into a boudoir." He
also called the Trianon: "a tiny chateau of porcelain." It was, too, the
boudoir of Madame de Montespan.
Louis XV, too, built, or furnished, discreet boudoirs of this order on
every hand. More than one great gallery in which his elders had done big
things he divided and subdivided into minute apartments and papered the
walls, or painted them, all colours of the rainbow, or hung them with
silks or velvets.
"Don't you think my little apartment shows good taste," he asked one day
of the Comtesse de Seran at Versailles.
"Not at all," she replied, "I would much rather that the walls were hung
in blue."
That particular apartment was in rose, but, since blue was the favourite
colour of the monarch, the reply was but flattering. The next time that
his friend, the Comtesse, appeared on the scene the apartment had all
been done over in blue.
The monarch soon began to turn his attention to the gardens. Bowers,
labyrinths and vases and statues were inexplicably mixed as in a maze.
He began to have the "_gout pastoral_," his biographer has said, a vogue
that Madame du Barry and Marie Antoinette came in time to push to its
limits.
The king was too ready to admire all that was suggested, all that was
offered, and the ultimate effect was--well, it was the opposite of what
he hoped it to be, though doubtless he did not realize it.
In the garden of the Grand Trianon is a great basin with a cascade
flowing down over a sort of a high altar arrangement in red and white
marble called the Buffet de l'Architecture, and evolved by Mansart. This
architect certainly succeeded much better with his purely architectural
conceptions than he did with interpolated decorative elements intended
to relieve a formal landscape.
The Petit Trianon, the pride of Louis XV, was designed by the architect
Gabriel, and its reigning goddess was Marie Antoinette. Souvenirs of the
unhappy queen are many, but the caretakers are evidently bored with
their duties and hustle you through the apartments with scant ceremony
that they may doze again undisturbed in their corners.
[Illustration: _Petit Trianon_]
The garden of the Petit Trianon is a veritable _Jardin Anglais_, that
is, the decorative portion, where sweeps and curves, as meaningless as
those one sees on banknotes and no more decorative, are found in
place of the majestic lines of the formal garden when laid out after the
French manner.
[Illustration: _La Laiterie de la Reine PETIT TRIANON_]
The _Hameau_, where is the dairy where the queen played housewife and
shepherdess, is just to the rear of this bijou palace and looks stagy
and unreal enough to be the wings and back-drop of a pastoral play.
Near Versailles was the Chateau de Clagny, with a garden laid out by Le
Notre, quite the rival of many better known. Of it Madame de Sevigne
wrote: "It is the Palais d'Armide; you know the manner of Le Notre; here
he has done his best."
The Couvent des Recollettes, just across the Bois de Satory, was built
by Louis XIV out of regard for the _religieux_ whom he displaced from
an edifice which stood upon a plot which was actually needed for the
palace gardens. The Chateaux of Noisy and Molineaux were also affiliated
with Versailles.
The rest of the surroundings and accessories of Versailles are mere
adjunctive details of those chief features here mentioned. To catalogue
them even would be useless since they are all set down in the
guidebooks.