The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, Andre Le Notre and the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles

Interesting book - was prompted my a recent documentary series of French Gardens by Monty Dom, he did a very interesting programme about the work of Andre Le Notre and the Gardens of Versaille. This book gives an interesting insight into the garden design and history of this superb creation. The earlier designs at Vau-le-Vicompte for Nicolas Fouquet by Andre Le Notre led Louis XIV (France's self styled Sun King) to create the Gardens of Versaille. Fouquet was imprisoned by Louis XIV and he confiscated much of the garden ornaments at Vau-le-Vicompte which led to Le Notre's appointment to design the Gardens of Versaille. Highly recommended book.

Beautiful book, in excellent condition! An absolute bargain! Very p!eased with purchase.

A very big book with lots of information . am slowly working my way through. I am enjoying it in small bites

A delicious documentary text that we can read as we would read a novel. Fast paced and griping, makes one want to go back in time, it was a very cool book to read because I had been to Versailles in the summer and the memory was very vivid. Loved it.

Reads like a novel, beautifully written. Full of information. Not the best as an academic text, but even so (as an academic) it is a good read.

Just the book I needed because I'm interested in history and Louis XIV.

an excellent book, cleverly researched and easy to read

Excellent book on this subject. Recomended

This is a fascinating account of the history and development of the gardens at Versailles. It chronicles Louis XIV’s obsession with his garden and the man he chose to design it, Andre LeNotre. Easy to read, lots of interesting tidbits about the time period and Versailles. Highly recommend to any lover of history.

My mom loves this book. It made a great gift. Thank you!

Great book and delivered as promised

I thought this was a thoroughly enjoyable book. It describes the development of the gardens at Versailles and also provides much description and commentary of the social life and strictures of the court of Louis XIV.Many of the 17th century features of the Versailles gardens were destroyed even in the late 17th and in the early 18th centuries. Bosquets and fountains are only known by drawings or paintings of the time. I think the greatest loss was the Grotto of Thetis, destroyed in the 1680s to make way for the extension of the North Wing of the chateau.There are several photos of pencil sketches or drawings of various parterres that never were built. There are also copies of theoretical parterre designs from a textbook of the times. There are also several photos of famous color paintings of various aspects of Versailles or events in the life of the court. I have always been amazed by these paintings: they are so detailed that they almost look like modern color photos. The skill of the painters is astonishing.The biggest weakness of the book is the lack of a map showing the key features of the Versailles park. I have a copy of the book "The Gardens of Versailles" by Lablaude. It includes a two-page color map with a key to locating the bosquets, fountains, basins, parterres, and so forth. I kept referring to this map as I read the Thompson book. The closest thing to this in the book is a photo on page 75 of the color painting "Plan of the Gardens of Versailles" drawn by Chaufourrier in 1720. It is not labeled or keyed so you have to know what you are looking for.

An enchanting book read over the holidays.