Garden Pavilions and the 18th Century French Court

Eleanor P. DeLorme

Woodbridge, UK: Antique Collectors' Club, 1996. Hardcover. Olive cloth. Color pictorial dust jacket. 320 pp. Color and bw plates. VG/VG- (art library stamp on title page. tear on dj front. ). Item #133649
ISBN: 9781851491896

A unique study, linking social history with architecture and garden design, this is an intriguing and detailed account of the ornamental garden structures which were created for the French monarchy and royal circles from the late 1600s to the Revolution in 1789. These morceaux d'architecture, which we call pavilions, became a distinctive, highly accomplished art form appealing not only to royalty and members of the court circle, but also to the bourgeoisie. As well as. Complementing and enriching the gardens in which they were sited, these charming structures not only served as mises-en-scene for extravagant parties but also provided hideaways from the unremitting protocol which still governed at Versailles and among the aristocracy. Eleanor DeLorme, in writing of the activities of the court and their use of pavilions, has incorporated much entertaining anecdotal material which highlights her subject matter and enlivens her narrative. The book sheds a different perspective and new light on a much misunderstood period and under-researched subject, while the author's scholarship is reflected in an extremely readable, generously illustrated text. Contents as follows: Ch. 1. The French Formal Garden -- Ch. 2. Pavilions in the Age of Louis XIV: 1661-1715 -- Ch. 3. Pavilions Built by Members of Louis XIV's Court Circle -- Ch. 4. The Beginning of the Picturesque Garden -- Ch. 5. Louis XV, Patron of Architecture: 1723-1774 -- Ch. 6. Louis-Henri de Bourbon-Conde and Chantilly -- Ch. 7. King Stanislas Leczinski and the Chateau of Luneville -- Ch. 8. Louis XV's Pavilions at Versailles -- Ch. 9. The Pavilions of the Marquise de Pompadour -- Ch. 10. The Duc de Richelieu and the Pavilion of Hanover -- Ch. 11. The Duc de Choiseul and Chanteloup -- Ch. 12. The Marquis de Marigny and Menars -- Ch. 13. Madame Du Barry and Louveciennes -- Ch. 14. The Apogee of the Picturesque Garden -- Ch. 15. Pavilions in the Age of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette: 1774-1793 -- Ch. 16. Pavilions Built by the House of Orleans -- Ch. 17. Monsieur de Monville and the Desert de Retz -- Ch. 18. Louis-Joseph de Bourbon-Conde and Chantilly -- Ch. 19. Preparations for Marie-Antoinette's Garden at Versailles -- Ch. 20. The Pavilions of Marie-Antoinette at Versailles -- Ch. 21. The Comte d'Artois and Bagatelle -- Ch. 22. The Princesse de Lamballe and the Chaumiere at Rambouillet -- Ch. 23. The Laiterie de la Reine at Rambouillet -- Ch. 24. Jean-Joseph de Laborde and Mereville -- Ch. 25. The French Pavilions in America.