From Marie Antoinette's Garden

An immersive horticultural tour of Marie Antoinette's domain, the lavishly constructed gardens at Versailles, accompanied by eighteenth-century illustrations. Marie Antoinette took over the splendid former residence of Madame de Pompadour, transforming the gardens into an enchanted landscape. Using [...]
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An immersive horticultural tour of Marie Antoinette's domain, the lavishly constructed gardens at Versailles, accompanied by eighteenth-century illustrations. Marie Antoinette took over the splendid former residence of Madame de Pompadour, transforming the gardens into an enchanted landscape. Using archival documents and architect Richard Mique's original plans from 1777, Elisabeth de Feydeau re-creates the fanciful herbarium, taking the reader on a journey through Marie Antoinette's estate, just as the queen would have walked it. The reader is invited to stroll from the French Gardens, with their beds of hyacinth, buttercups, and anemones, via the winding paths of the Anglo-Chinese Gardens, through the conifers of the Belvedere Gardens--where fabulous late-night parties were hosted--and past the entrancing aromas of the shrubs surrounding the Temple of Love, to the wildflowers of the Garden of Solitude. Written under the guidance of Alain Baraton, head gardener at Versailles, de Feydeau's fascinating reconstruction plunges the reader into the eighteenth century, showcasing newly discovered species of the period, describing the cosmetic uses of many of the garden's plants, and recounting vivid anecdotes from the royal court. The volume is illuminated by delicate illustrations of the herbarium by Pierre-Joseph Redoute, a designer and painter for Marie Antoinette's cabinet.