anniversary issue
COTTAGESGARDENS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2014 connecticut cottages & gardens september 2014
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Design of
cottagesgardens.com
���
T R AT V E ELL BB YY DD R AV E SEI GSNI G N
Pièce de Résistance A V I S I T T O A G R A N D E S TAT E F R O M T H E B I R T H O F F R E N C H B A R O Q U E
French Formal Vaux le Vicomte is a 17thcentury masterpiece whose chateau and formal gardens draw a more manageable crowd than Versailles.
THE VAUX TOP THREE
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ctc&g cottagesgardens.com september 2014
French formal garden here, laying out 80 acres of rigorously geometric terraced parterres and water features (26 in all) that appear and disappear as you move down the landscape’s wide allées; and painter and decorator Charles Le Brun executed the trend-setting interior design, including the beautifully rendered ceiling frescoes in many of the rooms. It took Fouquet nearly 20 years to realize this vision for Vaux. But just three weeks after he hosted a grand housewarming in the nearly completed house, a falling out with Louis XIV led to his imprisonment and the estate’s dissolution. (The king commandeered the house’s contents, much of it ending up at Versailles, where some still stands on display.) For the next three centuries, Vaux stayed
Look up in the Room of the Muses. Here, you’ll find one of artist/decorator Charles Le Brun’s most stunning achievements at Vaux, a multipanel ceiling fresco depicting the nine muses of Greek and Roman mythology, with eight occupying the edges and the Muse of History at the center. Reflect on the Carré d’Eau. About 400 yards into the back garden, a glassy pool of water that had seemed decidedly rectangular from the rear of the house reveals itself as perfectly square. Walk past it and then look back over it toward the castle. In the calm waters, you’ll see a perfectly shimmering image of the chateau reflected back at you.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ERWANN MAIGNAN
B
efore there was Versailles, there was Vaux le Vicomte. French-lawyerturned-finance-minister Nicolas Fouquet finished this aesthetically pioneering French Baroque chateau and garden in 1661, several years before Louis XIV would even begin work on his glittering palace at Versailles, which he would go on to build using the same triumvirate of accomplished, forwardthinking design talents first brought together at Vaux—and many of their ideas, too. At Vaux, about 40 miles southeast of Paris, royal architect Louis Le Vau created a grand lime-and-sandstone castle, twice as deep as was standard at the time, capping it with an innovative oval dome; landscape guru André Le Nôtre, meanwhile, all but invented the
Climb the cupola. For an additional three euro beyond the standard 16.50 euro admission fee, you can climb the winding steps to the cupola atop the chateau. From inside, you can appreciate the ingenious structure Vau devised to support the soaring oval dome, and, from outside, you’ll love the birds-eye view of the geometric gardens and the natural landscapes beyond.
T R AV E L B Y D E S I G N Gilded Glory Charles Le Brun’s ceiling in the Salon des Muses (this photo ) rivals that of the one he completed at Versailles. At the Journée Grand Siècle in June, a costume contest (below) is part of the day’s fun.
VISITING
VAUX Beyond the self-, audio- and docentguided visits available from March to November, the de Vogüés have created a series of vibrant seasonal happenings that bring the estate to life for visitors year-round (vaux-le-vicomte.com).
The Palace of Chocolate (November 8–11, 2014) A cocoa-centered celebration of sweets consumes the castle as chocolatiers from 15-plus French confection houses spin decadent ready-to-eat delights of all kinds. Christmas at the Chateau (late November to early January) Some 12,000 pieces of decoration—5,000 alone on the 23-foot-tall tree in the Grand Salon—plus crackling fires in the hearths and a seemingly endless array of twinkling lights adorn the estate, with thematic décor in each of the rooms on the ground floor and performances in the garden’s orangerie. (This year’s show is Snow White.)
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ctc&g cottagesgardens.com september 2014
Journée Grand Siècle (June 21, 2015) Like a Renaissance fair for those obsessed with aristocratic 17th-century style, this daylong affair sees costumed revelers enjoying a garden luncheon and a variety of courtly alfresco amusements, including artistic fencing, a horse show, baroque dancing and an “Elegance Contest” that picks the day’s best costumes.
Candlelight Evenings (Saturdays from May to October) Summer evenings see the chateau and lawns lit up with 2,000 candles and set with tables and chairs for multi-course gourmet suppers that follow tours of the chateau. A fireworks display at the far end of the gardens caps off the evening.
PHOTOGRAPH BY COLLECTIF IMAGES; BOTTOM LEFT: DIDIER CAUVAIN
mostly out of the public eye, until Patrice de Vogüé—a scion of the family that has called the estate home since 1875—opened it to guests in 1968, making it one of the first private chateaux to welcome visitors. But in contrast to Versailles, where crazed tourist crowds cram every nook and cranny, Vaux remained undiscovered by all but the most in-the-know aficionados of the Grand Siècle arts de vivre. Now, however, nearly 50 years later, Vaux is experiencing a second renaissance of sorts, as de Vogüé’s twin sons, Alexandre and JeanCharles, find new ways to welcome guests and encourage interaction. “Unlike public house museums, where you have an army of curators guarding everything, here we consider every part of the house visit-able,” Alexandre explains. And, indeed, Vaux’s visitors enjoy largely free reign of its opulently layered rooms and can even commandeer golf carts to explore the expansive gardens. That freedom is all part and parcel of the de Vogüés’ very 21st-century goal to make people feel at home in this very 17th-century house. And why not? After all, the brothers, their parents and their families all still live here. Lucky for us, they’re only too happy to let us pretend to do the same—even if only for a few hours. —Andrew Sessa
Egg Hunt (Easter weekend) Some 85,000 Leonidas confections—that’s three tons of chocolate—are secreted away in some of the garden’s most hidden places, awaiting discovery by kids of all ages.
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Design of
cottagesgardens.com
���
T R AT V E ELL BB YY DD R AV E SEI GSNI G N
Pièce de Résistance A V I S I T T O A G R A N D E S TAT E F R O M T H E B I R T H O F F R E N C H B A R O Q U E
French Formal Vaux le Vicomte is a 17thcentury masterpiece whose chateau and formal gardens draw a more manageable crowd than Versailles.
THE VAUX TOP THREE
62
ctc&g cottagesgardens.com september 2014
French formal garden here, laying out 80 acres of rigorously geometric terraced parterres and water features (26 in all) that appear and disappear as you move down the landscape’s wide allées; and painter and decorator Charles Le Brun executed the trend-setting interior design, including the beautifully rendered ceiling frescoes in many of the rooms. It took Fouquet nearly 20 years to realize this vision for Vaux. But just three weeks after he hosted a grand housewarming in the nearly completed house, a falling out with Louis XIV led to his imprisonment and the estate’s dissolution. (The king commandeered the house’s contents, much of it ending up at Versailles, where some still stands on display.) For the next three centuries, Vaux stayed
Look up in the Room of the Muses. Here, you’ll find one of artist/decorator Charles Le Brun’s most stunning achievements at Vaux, a multipanel ceiling fresco depicting the nine muses of Greek and Roman mythology, with eight occupying the edges and the Muse of History at the center. Reflect on the Carré d’Eau. About 400 yards into the back garden, a glassy pool of water that had seemed decidedly rectangular from the rear of the house reveals itself as perfectly square. Walk past it and then look back over it toward the castle. In the calm waters, you’ll see a perfectly shimmering image of the chateau reflected back at you.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ERWANN MAIGNAN
B
efore there was Versailles, there was Vaux le Vicomte. French-lawyerturned-finance-minister Nicolas Fouquet finished this aesthetically pioneering French Baroque chateau and garden in 1661, several years before Louis XIV would even begin work on his glittering palace at Versailles, which he would go on to build using the same triumvirate of accomplished, forwardthinking design talents first brought together at Vaux—and many of their ideas, too. At Vaux, about 40 miles southeast of Paris, royal architect Louis Le Vau created a grand lime-and-sandstone castle, twice as deep as was standard at the time, capping it with an innovative oval dome; landscape guru André Le Nôtre, meanwhile, all but invented the
Climb the cupola. For an additional three euro beyond the standard 16.50 euro admission fee, you can climb the winding steps to the cupola atop the chateau. From inside, you can appreciate the ingenious structure Vau devised to support the soaring oval dome, and, from outside, you’ll love the birds-eye view of the geometric gardens and the natural landscapes beyond.
T R AV E L B Y D E S I G N Gilded Glory Charles Le Brun’s ceiling in the Salon des Muses (this photo ) rivals that of the one he completed at Versailles. At the Journée Grand Siècle in June, a costume contest (below) is part of the day’s fun.
VISITING
VAUX Beyond the self-, audio- and docentguided visits available from March to November, the de Vogüés have created a series of vibrant seasonal happenings that bring the estate to life for visitors year-round (vaux-le-vicomte.com).
The Palace of Chocolate (November 8–11, 2014) A cocoa-centered celebration of sweets consumes the castle as chocolatiers from 15-plus French confection houses spin decadent ready-to-eat delights of all kinds. Christmas at the Chateau (late November to early January) Some 12,000 pieces of decoration—5,000 alone on the 23-foot-tall tree in the Grand Salon—plus crackling fires in the hearths and a seemingly endless array of twinkling lights adorn the estate, with thematic décor in each of the rooms on the ground floor and performances in the garden’s orangerie. (This year’s show is Snow White.)
64
ctc&g cottagesgardens.com september 2014
Journée Grand Siècle (June 21, 2015) Like a Renaissance fair for those obsessed with aristocratic 17th-century style, this daylong affair sees costumed revelers enjoying a garden luncheon and a variety of courtly alfresco amusements, including artistic fencing, a horse show, baroque dancing and an “Elegance Contest” that picks the day’s best costumes.
Candlelight Evenings (Saturdays from May to October) Summer evenings see the chateau and lawns lit up with 2,000 candles and set with tables and chairs for multi-course gourmet suppers that follow tours of the chateau. A fireworks display at the far end of the gardens caps off the evening.
PHOTOGRAPH BY COLLECTIF IMAGES; BOTTOM LEFT: DIDIER CAUVAIN
mostly out of the public eye, until Patrice de Vogüé—a scion of the family that has called the estate home since 1875—opened it to guests in 1968, making it one of the first private chateaux to welcome visitors. But in contrast to Versailles, where crazed tourist crowds cram every nook and cranny, Vaux remained undiscovered by all but the most in-the-know aficionados of the Grand Siècle arts de vivre. Now, however, nearly 50 years later, Vaux is experiencing a second renaissance of sorts, as de Vogüé’s twin sons, Alexandre and JeanCharles, find new ways to welcome guests and encourage interaction. “Unlike public house museums, where you have an army of curators guarding everything, here we consider every part of the house visit-able,” Alexandre explains. And, indeed, Vaux’s visitors enjoy largely free reign of its opulently layered rooms and can even commandeer golf carts to explore the expansive gardens. That freedom is all part and parcel of the de Vogüés’ very 21st-century goal to make people feel at home in this very 17th-century house. And why not? After all, the brothers, their parents and their families all still live here. Lucky for us, they’re only too happy to let us pretend to do the same—even if only for a few hours. —Andrew Sessa
Egg Hunt (Easter weekend) Some 85,000 Leonidas confections—that’s three tons of chocolate—are secreted away in some of the garden’s most hidden places, awaiting discovery by kids of all ages.
