Author: Tony Spawforth
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429928786
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Get Book Here
Book Description
“An illuminating portrait” of the palace―its architecture, its scandals, its politics, and its role in France’s tumultuous history (The New York Times Book Review). The story of Versailles is one of historical drama, under the last three kings of France's old regime, mixed with the high camp and glamour of the European courts, all in an iconic home for the French arts. The palace itself has been radically altered since 1789, and the court was long ago swept away. Versailles sets out to rediscover what is now a vanished world: a great center of power, seat of royal government, and, for thousands, a home both grand and squalid, bound by social codes almost incomprehensible to us today. Using eyewitness testimony as well as the latest historical research, Tony Spawforth offers the first full account of Versailles in English in over thirty years. Blowing away the myths of Versailles, he analyses afresh the politics behind the Sun King’s construction of the palace and shows how Versailles worked as the seat of a royal court. He probes the conventional picture of a “perpetual house party” of courtiers and gives full weight to the darker side: not just the mounting discomfort of the aging buildings but also the intrigue and status anxiety of its aristocrats. The book brings out clearly the fateful consequences for the French monarchy of its relocation to Versailles and also examines the changing place of Versailles in France’s national identity since 1789. Includes photographs “Animates the palace that was home to the most charismatic monarchy in Europe for a century, until the French Revolution . . . well-researched and highly engrossing.” —Publishers Weekly
Author: Catherine Pégard
Publisher: Assouline Publishing
ISBN: 161428962X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 6
Get Book Here
Book Description
Lavishly illustrated with archival images and beautiful photography, Versailles: From Louis XIV to Jeff Koons features insightful texts by Catherine Pégard, president of the Château de Versailles, with the collaboration of Mathieu da Vinha, scientific director of the Château de Versailles Research Center, revealing all the stories that have unfolded within this glorious monument.
Author: Robert B. Abrams
Publisher: New Word City
ISBN: 1640190651
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 127
Get Book Here
Book Description
King Louis XIV had many loves, but none as compelling as Versailles, the modest country estate he transformed into one of the world's most spectacular palaces. Here is the dramatic - and tragic - story of Versailles and the men and women who made it their home.
Author: Robin Givhan
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250053854
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Get Book Here
Book Description
On November 28, 1973, the world's social elite gathered at the Palace of Versailles for an international fashion show. By the time the curtain came down on the evening's spectacle, history had been made and the industry had been forever transformed. This is that story. Conceived as a fund-raiser for the restoration of King Louis XIV's palace, in the late fall of 1973, five top American designers faced off against five top French designers in an over-the-top runway extravaganza. An audience filled with celebrities and international jet-setters, including Princess Grace of Monaco, the Duchess of Windsor, Paloma Picasso, and Andy Warhol, were treated to an opulent performance featuring Liza Minnelli, Josephine Baker, and Rudolph Nureyev. What they saw would forever alter the history of fashion. The Americans at the Battle of Versailles– Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston, and Stephen Burrows – showed their work against the five French designers considered the best in the world – Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior. Plagued by in-fighting, outsized egos, shoestring budgets, and innumerable technical difficulties, the American contingent had little chance of meeting the European's exquisite and refined standards. But against all odds, the American energy and the domination by the fearless models (ten of whom, in a groundbreaking move, were African American) sent the audience reeling. By the end of the evening, the Americans had officially taken their place on the world's stage, prompting a major shift in the way race, gender, sexuality, and economics would be treated in fashion for decades to come. As the curtain came down on The Battle of Versailles, American fashion was born; no longer would the world look to Europe to determine the stylistic trends of the day, from here forward, American sensibility and taste would command the world's attention. Pulitzer-Prize winning fashion journalist Robin Givhan offers a lively and meticulously well-researched account of this unique event. The Battle of Versailles is a sharp, engaging cultural history; this intimate examination of a single moment shows us how the world of fashion as we know it came to be.
Author: Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588396223
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Get Book Here
Book Description
What was it like to visit one of the most magnificent courts of Europe? Based on a wealth of contemporary documents and surviving works of art, this lavish book explores the experiences of those who swarmed the palace and grounds of Versailles when it was the seat of the French monarchy. Engaging essays describe methods of transportation, the elaborate codes of dress and etiquette, precious diplomatic gifts, royal audiences, and tours of the palace and gardens. Also presented are the many types of visitors and guests who eagerly made their way to this center of power and culture, including day-trippers and Grand Tourists, European diplomats, overseas ambassadors, incognito travelers, and Americans. Through paintings and portraits, furniture, costumes and uniforms, arms and armor, guidebooks, and other works of art, Visitors to Versailles illuminates what travelers encountered at court and what impressions, gifts, and souvenirs they took home with them. In bringing to life their experiences, this sumptuously illustrated volume reminds us why Versailles has enchanted generations of visitors from the ancien régime to the present day.
Author: Alain Baraton
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 0847842703
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 294
Get Book Here
Book Description
An “eccentric and charming” love letter to Versailles Palace and its storied grounds, by the man who knows them best—for gardening lovers and Francophiles (New York Times) Tour Versailles’ 2,100 acres as its gardener-in-chief describes its fascinating history and his 40 years of living and working in the gardens. In Alain Baraton’s Versailles, every grove tells a story. As the gardener-in-chief, Baraton lives on its grounds, and since 1982 he has devoted his life to the gardens, orchards, and fields that were loved by France’s kings and queens as much as the palace itself. His memoir captures the essence of the connection between gardeners and the earth they tend, no matter how humble or grand. With the charm of a natural storyteller, Baraton weaves his own path as a gardener with the life of the Versailles grounds, and his role overseeing its team of 80 gardeners tending to 350,000 trees and 30 miles of walkways across 2,100 acres. He richly evokes this legendary place and the history it has witnessed but also its quieter side that he feels privileged to know: The same gardens that hosted the lavish lawn parties of Louis XIV and the momentous meeting between Marie Antoinette and the Cardinal de Rohan remain enchanted—private places where visitors try to get themselves locked in at night, lovers go looking for secluded hideaways, and elegant grandmothers secretly make cuttings to take back to their own gardens. A tremendous bestseller in France, The Gardener of Versailles gives an unprecedentedly intimate view of one of the grandest places on earth.
Author: Stéphane Pincas
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 9780500017012
Category : Gardens
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Get Book Here
Book Description
Presents a visual recreation of the famed gardens of Versaille
Author: Rebecca F. Pittman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780998369235
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 796
Get Book Here
Book Description
It was a palace of the Kings of France; the creation of the Sun King, Louis XIV. The marvel of all Europe it soon became a gilded cage for the monarchs and the courtiers who lived there. The saga of Versailles is filled with intrigue, scandal, glory, and tragedy. It is here that the nobility of France manipulated and poisoned their way to the top. Marriages, deaths, mistresses, secret passageways, and betrayal---it all added up to the French Revolution that cost Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette their heads. Yet it is also within these opulent walls that we find the dreams of those who conquered Europe through military campaigns or outsmarting their own bloodline. No one was safe. No one was exempt from the King's spies who secretly opened letters and reported on every move within the palace and grounds. Join me as we look behind the scenes at the lives of the French Kings, their wives, their mistresses, and blood relations as they built, tore down, and rebuilt a name that became synonymous with jaw-dropping opulence, power, wealth, fashion, and scandal. Come with me inside the golden gates of Versailles. Packed with photographs, floor plans, and maps, this is a comprehensive look at the palace's history. Also included is the documented hauntings at the palace, including the bestselling account of two women academics who visited the Petit Trianon grounds in 1901 and interacted with the ghost of Marie Antoinette and others of her time period. It is a story that has fascinated the world for decades. Other reports of paranormal activity at the palace are also included. Rebecca F. Pittman is a bestselling author of 14 titles. Her History and Haunting Of series is regularly featured on international TV, radio, and podcast shows. She researches the most-haunted venues in the world, staying in their shadowed bedrooms and interviewing the owners and staff. Her book The History and Haunting of Lizzie Borden spotlights five new pieces of evidence Ms. Pittman found in the famous murder case of 1892. A companion rummy-style card game, The Lizzie Borden Paranormal Card Game, featuring evidence, suspects, alibis and a paranormal twist, is available for sale on her website. She makes her home in Colorado.
Author: Michel Baridon
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812240782
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Get Book Here
Book Description
Michel Baridon traces the history of the most famous gardens in the world from their inception through the three centuries of eventful history that they have witnessed.
Author: Colin Jones
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 154167345X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Get Book Here
Book Description
The vivid story of the creation, renovation, and enduring legacy of the most famous building in France: the palace of Versailles Nothing represents the glorious and fraught history of France quite like the Palace of Versailles. Made famous by the absolutist king Louis XIV, Versailles became legendary for the splendor of its revels -- but then, after the Revolution of 1789, it fell into disrepute as a reminder of royal excess and abuse of power. Subsequent French governments struggled with how to handle the opulent palace and grounds -- should the site be memorialized, trivialized, rehabilitated, or even destroyed outright? Drawing on a new wave of recent research, historian Colin Jones masterfully traces the evolution of Versailles as a space of royal politics and aristocratic pleasures, a building of mythic status, and one of the world's great tourist destinations. Accessible and compelling, this book is a must-read for all Francophiles.
