From Library Journal
The literature of the past few years has seen a growth of interest in the social aspects of landscape and garden architecture quite apart from its botanical and artistic ends. This current study, enlivened by anecdotes and personalities, offers a view of life outside the restrictions of the court: political, social, and amatory, in Arcadian villas and miniature farms, at outdoor concerts and open air banquets. Designed by the outstanding artisans of the time, these pavilions often influenced the style of more conventional buildings, and those few that remain are well worth preserving as a reminder of an elegant but doomed era. The work offers a look at Marie Antoinette at Versailles, Madame Du Barry at Louveciennes, as well as "Chinese" baths, "Egyptian" tombs, and the French role in the American Revolution?an interesting sidelight is the description of a structure built at West Point to celebrate the birth of the dauphin in 1781. Visually pleasing and elegantly written, the book should prove of interest to a wide variety of readers.?Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
A detailed account of the ornamental garden structures which were created for the French monarchy and royal circles, and some that embellished the gardens of the First Empire. Pavilions and gardens are inseparable as the latter provided the mise en scene for these little architectural gems. As well as complementing and enriching the garden, they were most often intended to be lived in. Built by the leading architects and craftsmen of the day, they were of extraordinary stylistic diversity, commensurate with the purpose for which they were designed. The grandeur of the Sun King's Grand Trianon, for example, proclaimed the nature of the absolute monarchy, serving a political as well as an aesthetic purpose. On the other hand, the Pavilion Francais of his great-grandson Louis XV provided a centre piece for his botanical garden. Outdoor meals were served in Madame de Pompadour's salon frais while Marie Antoinette's Belvedere was given over to concerts and conversation. Whatever shape they assumed and for whatever purpose they were put, these ephemeral structures decorated a landscape intended as a refuge from the everyday world. For the ultimately doomed society of the 18th century these kiosks, tents, temples, tombs and grottoes assume a particular significance.
