Chateau of greed, grandeur & glory

Before visiting Vaux le Vicomte, I casually asked a Frenchman just how far the drive would be from Paris. "Not far," he replied. Without missing a beat he added, "You know, of course, there would be no Versailles without the Vaux le Vicomte."

Therein lies the fame of this chateau. An opulent country house built by Nicolas Fouquet, Lord High Treasurer of France during the reign of Louis XIV. The chateau was built on a scale so lavish and so grand that it incurred the king’s ire. Ironically, it also served as an inspiration for the Palace of Versailles. Barely a month after the formal festivities were held to celebrate the birth of this new chateau, Fouquet was arrested and thrown in prison where he languished and died never having enjoyed Vaux le Vicomte.

On August 17, 1661, Nicolas Fouquet staged a memorable social event in what was to be his new home. A sumptuous buffet was prepared and laid out by the famed chef Vatel. Wine flowed and entertainers put on dazzling theatrical acts. The fanfare lasted until the break of dawn. The festivities were capped by a brilliant display of fireworks. The King himself had walked through the marbled floor of the chateau and marveled at its immense and beautifully-landscaped gardens. By all accounts, the King was impressed – so much so that he would later commission the architect and the landscape artist of Vaux to help create the Palace of Versailles.

For Fouquet, Vaux stood as a symbol of a new age – an age of newfound prosperity led by able ministers like himself. It would illustrate what the fine art of living was truly about. It would showcase the best of French artistry. It was, in a sense, a tribute to the King himself. Yet barely a month after Vaux had opened its doors, Fouquet found himself in the midst of a political trial.

Why then, one may wonder, was Fouquet imprisoned if he had such noble intentions? The courts had charged the Minister with misappropriating state funds for his personal benefit. Beyond that, Fouquet committed another fatal flaw – he upstaged a monarch in an age when monarchs ruled with absolute authority. Back then, the King regarded himself as an enlightened ruler who personified the state itself. In those days, grandeur was the province of Kings, and everyone else, ministers included, had to adapt a form of gracious restraint. There is a cautionary tale here. It reminds us that wanton greed and excess invite envy and most certainly grief.

The tale of Vaux le Vicomte has drawn thousands of visitors from all over the world who come to see this chateau that is widely regarded as a masterpiece of French 17th-century architecture.

Every summer, two thousand candles are lit throughout the chateau and its grounds, classical music performances are held at the garden to recreate the atmosphere of that fateful night when Vaux had shined for a brief moment.

After a two-hour drive from Paris heading North, the chateau comes into view and cuts a striking presence along a quiet road surrounded by woodlands. From its façade, it is difficult to get a sense of how large the estate is until you walk through the chateau. As you go through the rooms and salons and gaze out the windows, you’ll see an immense garden that seems to stretch to infinity. The buildings, gardens and waterfalls were apparently laid out along an axis measuring two miles from north to south.

In contrast to the grounds, the chateau is not as large in scale, as it is grand in design. Gilded ceilings reveal paintings of allegorical and mythical themes and figures.

Marble-topped tables with carved wood legs bear sculptures, busts and fine porcelain. Furniture is embellished with petit point tapestry, silk damask or rich velvet. Fine tapestry covers the walls of Fouquet’s private quarters, a product of the tapestry workshop he founded in Maincy not far from Vaux. There, nearly 300 workers with 19 Flemish tapestry makers worked under the supervision of painter Charles le Brun. Le Brun was credited with most of the paintings and decorative sculptures at Vaux.

The chateau itself was built over a water-filled moat lending it a romantic and almost medieval aura. A wide courtyard with terraces on both sides flanks the entrance of the chateau which is reached by a long flight of steps. On the garden side of the chateau are successive terraces descending downwards towards the parterres that emphasize the elevated position of the building. From the terrace fronting the garden side, there is a remarkable perspective that is best described by the novelist, Madame de Scudery. "From this place," she wrote, "you can see such a great and vast expanse of different beds, so many large and beautiful paths, so many gushing fountains and beautiful objects that merge through their distance – that you hardly know what you are seeing."

Indeed the garden has an ethereal quality. At the foot of the steps is what is known as the parterres de broderie or a type of garden bed inspired by a Turkish carpet. This was fashioned from pruned box, sand, charcoal and crushed brick. Various statuaries, grottos, canals and water fountains are situated throughout the grounds with great care and artistry, that these gardens have become a model among pleasure gardens. The beautifully-tended grounds that are seen at Vaux today is the result of a massive restoration project that had taken 50 years to complete and was based on original drawings from the 17th century.

Perhaps, the last part of the tale of Vaux le Vicomte is as important as the first. Following the arrest of Fouquet, King Louis XIV transferred most of the artworks at the chateau to the Louvre and to Versailles. The chateau was returned to Madame Fouquet 12 years after its sequestration. It then passed to her eldest son who sold the chateau to Field Marshal de Villars. The heirs of the Field Marshal de Villars couldn’t afford to keep the property. They then sold it to the family of the Duke of Choisseul-Praslin. By the mid-19th century, a tragedy befell the family prompting them to sell the property. Vaux was then purchased by Alfred Sommier in 1875, an industrialist and art enthusiast, who had devoted his life and his resources to the restoration of this cultural landmark. Its present owner, Count Patrice de Vogue, the grandson of Sommier, has gone a long way in restoring the chateau to its former glory. He founded the association "Le Amis de Vaux le Vicomte," to contribute to the maintenance of the estate, to encourage public visits, research and art acquisitions related to the history and the legacy of Vaux.

And so the tale of Vaux le Vicomte ends. It began as a monument to French artistic excellence. It was conceived to build the legacy of a man, his status and the age in which he lived. One wonders whether a minister really needed a palatial estate to discharge his duties or to tout the glories of French art. The glories of culture and art are best enjoyed in public institutions where it becomes truly accessible to people. There is much to be said about knowing one’s place in the scheme of things. Perhaps, this is what truly had offended the sensibilities of King Louis XIV. Still, Vaux le Vicomte served as an inspiration, its builders and artists helped create Versailles. But it is misleading to think that Vaux precedes the Versailles. Their purpose and function differed vastly. Vaux was a private residence that resembled a palace. Versailles was a palace that had to support all the state offices and functions dictated by the King.

As Vaux le Vicomte had passed to different owners, each attempted to preserve its former glory. For well beyond political dramas, artistic excellence must endure. This, after all, is about cultural preservation. This, after all, is France.