Translated Print Title:
[Plan of the Trianon Palace Built for Louis the Great at the End of One of the Arms of the Grand Canal of Versailles]
Date(s):
ca. 1705
Artist:
Engraver:
Plan du Palais de Trianon bâti pour Louis le Grand à l’un des bouts de la croisée du grand Canal de Versailles
In 1687, the dainty Porcelain Trianon was demolished and replaced by the Marble Trianon. This much more durable building is known today as the Grand Trianon to distinguish it from the Petit Trianon given in 1774 to Marie-Antoinette.
Louis XIV himself is said to have suggested the new layout to Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646–1708), Le Vau’s successor as chief architect. The central pavilion was replaced by a highly unusual “peristyle,” a pink marble colonnade allowing direct passage from the courtyard to the gardens. The latter included Le Nôtre’s most intimate and informal creation, the sinuous Jardin des Sources, or Garden of the Springs (lower right; destroyed in 1776).
Graphic Arts Collection.