VAUX LE VICOMTE FRANCAIS

by Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos

French

216 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Ralph Britton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Montclos is a scholarly writer and in this book he is making a new contribution to the discussion of how the responsibility for its creation should be allocated. It is not a coffee table book, despite the excellent illustrations but an examination of the art and architecture of the chateau that was Nicolas Foucquet's lasting contribution to posterity. Montclos is authorative and magisterial rather than popular but I found the book fascinating in its detailed analysis, particularly of the iconography of the pictures by Le Brun. Foucquet and his literary and artistic friends had a taste for suble and ambiguous allegory rather than the simple kind that Louis XIV favoured. It was a great shame that the meaness of that monarch prevented the completion of the decorative scheme. Le Brun actually had the scaffolding up to paint the great dome and his drawings for it exist today. If you have the chance to visit Vaux, you really need to read this book first. If you can't visit the book lets you imagine one of the most beautiful chateaux in France. I read a paperback edition which cost 20gbp.