Le Petite Trianon, (Versailles, Paris); 1762, Early 19th Century Architecture in Europe - Faheema Ismail
King Louis had been working on his garden for over 10 years
when he decided to commission a new mansion by the royal architect, Ange-Jacque
Gabriel. This new estate was meant to be big enough to house the king and some
of his following, and as he did this, he strayed from the classic Rococo and
Gothic architecture and returned to the Greek Style that was becoming popular.
As a result he made a large statement in the Neo-Classical movement.
Built in 1768, the Trianon estate
was built for King Louis XV and Queen Marie-Antoinette and was used as an
escape from the palace life. In 1774, Louis XV came down with the pox and
shortly died after. Thus brought about the reign of Louis XVI and his newly wed
wife, Marie Antoinette, and as a gift to his beloved, he gave her the Petite
Trianon and its estate. With her newly acquired play house, she started redecorating
and made it her own. This included
redesigning the garden and courts in favor of styles more in fashion. Instead
of gussying it up for parties as most royalty would do in the era, she chose to
make it her sanctuary away from the palace and away from the stresses of being
a high class noble that normally got everything she wanted and had servants
ready at her beck and call. What a horrible life she lived, she definitely needed
a break. Since this was her home away from home, she was the only one allowed
there and anyone else needed a personal invitation from her highness, it was rumored
that that even included King Louis XVI.
The surrounding area of the Estate
was adorned with a wall and gate as well as grills that made the area feel
secure and guarded from the outside world. These additions from the queen aided in
showing her need to shut off the world while keeping an air of refinement.
There was even a room called the “Moving Mirror Room” where a system of wooden
panels were able to move to cover the entirety of the windows within the room
when needed. The entire estate was a roughly a square, with about 86 feet on a
side. Due to its incredibly thick stone walls, a large amount of the estate in
unusable. The estate consisted of a large dining hall, music room, two smaller
rooms for entertaining guests, a bedroom suite, a baker’s dozen of guest
bedrooms, and an entry hall on the main floor. All reasonable for royalty
wanting to act as an insanely rich noble rather than as royalty surrounded by
servants.
While it was shaped like a cube, Ange-Jacque
Gabriel wanted to keep the design anything but simple. He did this by varying
the design of each façade while keeping five windows per floor. The East Façade
looked of over the king’s botanical garden and is the tamest. The West Façade looked
over the French Gardens and was adorned with four Corinthian columns that projected
outwards ever so slightly. The South Façade over looked the courtyard and had
four pilasters that accentuated the three central bays. And finally, the North
Facade repeats this design only on the first floor. All of these together
created a feeling of united elegance.
The estate was turned into a hostel
during the French revolution and was restored to its former glory by Napoleon
for his sister and then his second wife. Then in 1867, the Empress Eugenie,
declared the Petite Trianon to be a museum in memory of Marie- Antoinette
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/estate-trianon/petit-trianon#buy-your-ticket
"The Petit
Trianon; Palace of Versailles". Chataeuversailles.fr. Retrieved 2017-07-09
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