About the photos

All the photos were taken at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Nicolas Fouquet’s supremely elegant 17th-century chateau about 35 miles southeast of Paris. When Fouquet became Louis XIV’s finance minister in 1653, he began the massive construction of Vaux. He brought together the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André Le Nôtre, and the painter and interior designer Charles Le Brun to create this prototype of exquisite French chateaux and its extensive gardens and fountains.

The fountains are extraordinary in that they operate today as they were originally designed—completely by gravitational pull, not with elaborate mechanical devices. It takes a lot of water to make the spectacular fountain displays, so they are only in operation the second and last Saturdays from April through September.

In the summer of 1661, Fouquet held what might be the most lavish “housewarming” party in history. Louis and many of the court attended, a Moliere play premiered that night, and the evening ended with spectacular fireworks. Colbert, an envious courtier (who “succeeded” Fouquet as finance minister), lied to Louis that Fouquet’s new home—better than any that Louis had—was financed by funds siphoned from the treasury. A few days later, Fouquet was arrested, tried and sent to prison—and he never again saw Vaux.

Louis got the blueprints for Vaux-le-Vicomte, summoned Le Vau, Le Nôtre and Le Brun and said (essentially), “See these plans? I want the same thing…only bigger.”

And that…is Versailles.

Note: When visiting Vaux some years ago, they were deep into repairs throughout, including the roof. Cleverly, they offered visitors the opportunity to buy a new rooftile and etch an inscription of their choice on it. And in exchange, the visitor could take home one of the old slate rooftiles as a souvenir. I still think it was one of the classiest souvenirs I’ve ever purchased!