Dimensions
245 x 299 x 27mm
The chateau of Marly, unofficial residence of the French monarchs, was a place of experimentation in both architecture and furniture. Since it was intended as a hunting lodge and pleasure pavilion, the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart was allowed a degree of freedom in his new building, for which he adopted a design featuring a Royal Pavilion, with twelve more separate pavilions for members of the court. Considered as an architectural wonder from the outset, the chateau owed its exceptional character as much to the originality of its architecture as to its use as an instrument of political power by Louis XIV, who made it a symbol of royal favour at court. Stephane Castelluccio here traces the history of Marly, from the start of building work in 1679 to the Revolution. A leading specialist in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French interiors and furniture, he examines the legacy of each of the different monarchs who enjoyed the delights of the chateau and its gardens. Text in French. AUTHOR: Stephane Castelluccio is a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre, has a doctorate in history from the Université Paris IV-Sorbonne, and is a senior researcher at CNRS. He has studied the history of Marly for over twenty years and has published numerous works and articles on the subject, including Le chateau de Marly sous le regne de Louis XIV (1996) and Vues des jardins de Marly: le roi jardinier, with Louis Benech and Gerard Mabille (1998, new edition 2011), published in English as Views of the Gardens at Marly: Louis XIV Royal Gardener. 224 colour illustrations
