The Sun King's Envy

The Sun King's Envy: Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles
 
 Vaux-le-Vicomte was the first grand formal garden in the French style, commissioned by a minister in the court of Louis XIV, the "Sun King". The landscape design innovations by Andre Le Notre created extraordinary grandeur and visual beauty, later copied by formal gardens all over the world. Out of jealousy, Louis XIV imprisoned the owner of Vaux-le-Vicomte, then hired the same architects including Le Notre to build the most expensive palace complex ever built - Versailles. Monarchs near and far have tried to mimic Versailles yet have never been able to match it.
 


 Versailles Palace is a humongous complex with the most lavish decorations imaginable, but the overall effect is incoherent and gaudy. No matter, the sheer amount of sculptures, marble surfaces, and gold is jaw-dropping. Gold leafs are applied in large quantities to the exterior of the palace, while statues of nobles line the long corridors as if attending to the "Sun King". Although we did not tour the garden, we could catch a glimpse of the vast expanse of the formal gardens, filled with gigantic sculpture fountains, vast water basins, and sculpted trees lining up for miles and miles.