James Andrew at Versailles
Properly fortified by our Les Ambassadeurs brunch at the Crillon we made a pilgrimage to my personal mecca, Versailles! - and as you might imagine the whole experience had my spirit sailing - an unsurpassed, grand, and exuberant fugue - so utterly over the top - and all inexorably fused to the thought of the kings, the queens, and the mistresses who once lived here, and the wide reaching cultural and artistic influence they continue to exert even to this day.
James Andrew and portrait of Marie-Antoinette.
Marie-Antoinette - a perpetually fascinating force of nature - an irresistible amalgam of unbounded freedom and energy fueled by unlimited wealth. And yes, we do realize that this is a bit of an oversimplification, (a fate that befalls so many major historical figures), but I’m sure you will forgive us a touch of fantasy here. Of course one can only imagine the pressures the French court must have had on a queen of only twenty years of age, and perhaps we can relate to the escapist impulses that ensued! As we’ve mentioned, WIJW makes no excuse for its own escapist tendencies!
The grounds of the Petit Trianon.
The château of the Petit Trianon.
And Marie-Antoinette’s Petit Trianon - a gift from Louis the XVI (she was just nineteen at the time) - Originally built by Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour, Marie-Antoinette redecorated to suit and redesigned much of the garden grounds - This was to become her private sanctuary - an escape from the rigors of court etiquette as well as a place to indulge her famously extravagant appetites.
A beautifully restrained architecture preempting the Neoclassical movement - it’s no wonder that the Petit Trianon has been replicated so often - take for instance Nissim de Comando in Paris or the Villa EIlen Roc in Cap D’ Antibes both of which I’ve had the pleasure of visiting.
James Andrew at the Grand Trianon.
And we end at the Grand Trianon - On the outskirts of Versailles, the structure dates to the mid-seventeenth century and was commissioned by Louis XIV - a retreat for the King and his mistress, the Marquise de Montespan. A sweeping expression of the King’s office, it continues to exude the tremendous power and grace that pervades all at Versailles.
