In 1641, the 26-year-old Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV ' s Superintendent of Finances, aquired the manor house and small castel of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Twenty years later, in 1661, Fouquet had transformed the estate into a masterpiece whose castel and gardens are still among the most beautiful in France. To build the castle, he called on the best artists of the time : the architect Louis Le Vau, the pinter Charles Le Brun and the landscape gardener André Le Nôtre.
In 1653, the architect Louis Le Vau was already enjoying a great reputation when Nicolas Fouquet called on him. He was considered the best ambassadeur of the Italian style in France. He incorporated his references from antiquity. These different sources enabled him to create a style at Vaux-le-Vicomte that would become the benchmark for French architecture. The severe rythm of the roof was lightened by a beautiful central coupola. The dome is one of the most characteristic technical and esthetic feats of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. On the other hand, a new layout was introduced to give greater freedom to the layout of the rooms. On the first floor, four independent flats were divided by a central corridor, giving them a degre of privacy previously unknown. From then on, the ground floor became the ceremonial floor and the first, more intimate floor the private flats. Vaux-le-Vicomte castle is a masterpiece that inaugurate French classicism.
The painter Charles le Brun is one of those great ' men ' who embodi an era. He directed the delicate painting work that gave the castel an incredible cachet of richness. Particular attention was paid to the ornamentel treatment of the façade. For the king ' s flats, paintings and relief stuccowork were combined. |
