Paris
Day
Trip :
Vaux-le-Vicomte
le Chateau
The Chateau seems rather plain when viewed from the
front, but cross the threshold or go out back, and you will find
something quite different - a kind of baroque celebration. The building
is covered with ornate scripted "F" s and squirrels (Fouquet's symbol)
and the family motto " Quo non ascendit" (What heughts might he not
reach), the tower with three battlements has his second wife's crest
engraved on it. Madame Fouquet's closet once had walls line with small
mirrors, the decorative forerunner pf Versailles's Hall of mirrors.
Over the fireplace of the Square Room hangs Le Brun's portrait of
Fouquet. Le Brun's Romm of the Muses is one of his most famous
decorative schemes. The artist had planned to crown the cavernous, Neo
classical Oval Room (or Grand Salon) with a fresco entitled The Palace
if the Sun, but Fouquyet's arrest halted all decorating activity, and
only a single eagle and a patch of sky were completed. The tapestries
once bore Fouquet's menacing squirrels, but Colbert seized them and
replaced the rodents with his own adders. The ornate King's Bedchamber
boasts an orgy of cherubs and lions fluttering around the centerpiece,
Le Brun's Time bearing Truth Heavenward.
Gardens
At Vaux, Le Nôtre gave birth to the classical
French garden - shrubs were trimmed, lawns shaved, bushed
sculpted, and pools strategically placed. Vaux's multilevel terraces,
fountained walkways, and fantastical parterre the low-cut hedges and
crushed stone in arabesque patterns are still the most exquisite
example of 17th century French gardens. The collaboration of Le
Notre with Le Vau and Le Brun, ensured that the same patterns and
motifs were repeated with astonishing harmony in the gardens,
château, and tapestries inside. Vaux owes its most impressive
trompe-l'oeil effect to Le Notre's whimsical and adroit use of the laws
of perspective. From the back steps of the Chateau, it looks as if you
can see the entire landscape at a glance. The grottoes at the far end
of the garden appear directly behind the large pool of water.
Yet, as you approach the other end, the grottoes 
seem to recede,
revealing a sunken canal known as La Poele, which is invisible from le
Chateau. The Round Pool and its surrounding 17th-century statues mark
an important intersection. To the left, down the east walkway, are the
water gates, the backdrop for Moliere's performance of Les Facheux. The
Water Mirror, farther down the central walkway, was designed to reflect
the Chateau perfectly, but you may have some trouble positioning
yourself to enjoy the effect. A climb to the Farnese Hercules provides
the best vista of the grounds. The tremendous Hercules sculpture at the
top was at the center of Fouquet's trial. In an age when kings enjoyed
divine rights to their royalty, the beleaguered Fouquet had to justify
why he had likened himself to Hercules, the only mortal to become a
god. The old stables, les Equipages, also house a fantastic carriage
museum. But by far the best way to see Vaux's gardens is during the
visites aux chandelles, when the chateau and grounds are lit up by
thousands of candles, and classical music plays through the gardens in
imitation of Fouquet's legendary party, arrive around dusk to see the
grounds in all their glory.
