The Manse That Mocked a Monarch

Baroque has been called debased and deformed, false and exaggerated. It has also been called Europe's last great universal style. It flowered amid the extravagances of 17th century Italy, given its distinctive form by Bernini and Borromini. Yet the more restrained variant that France developed has proved almost as influential, and has inspired countless castles and churches, palaces and gardens. France's first great baroque monument was the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, built between 1656 and 1660. This year, for the first time in centuries, visitors can view Vaux-le-Vicomte in all its oldtime splendor.

What the visitor in fact sees, when he first passes through the huge, wrought-iron gates, is a palace that seems to the sophisticated eye merely a blend of French and Italian architectural styles. The chateau's peaked roofs, developed by France's Franc,ois Mansart are coupled with an Italianate dome reminiscent of St. Peter's. The entrance vestibule, decorated with Tuscan columns, leads into an 88-ft.-long white oval Grand Salon circled by arched French windows and crowned with stucco caryatids.

Through the windows may be seen its spacious, 170-acre formal garden, marshaled with airy grace into a tapestry of boxwood mazes, promenades, canals, fountains, staircases, statuary and grottoes that stretch to the horizon. The ornate Chambre du Roi, which lies to the left of the Grand Salon, illustrates the other French addition to the baroque. Luscious nudes hover overhead in trompe-l'eoil with voluptuousness that the Italians never envisioned--or permitted themselves.

Time to Disgorge. Splendid though the Chambre may be, le roi never slept in it. For the story of Vaux-le-Vicomte is of an older man who overreached himself. The man was Nicolas Fouquet, an urbane nobleman who had become France's Finance Minister a year before the young Louis was crowned at the age of 15. He thought of Louis as a young whippersnapper, and with some justice he felt he had been of more service to the state. Renowned as a courtier, conversationalist and diplomat, he had devised dozens of ingenious schemes to finance France's war with Spain, and when he decided to build himself a chateau on a tract of land that he owned halfway between Paris and Fontainebleau, he spared no expense. He summoned Louis Le Vau, the leading architect of the day, Charles Le Brun, a painter and interior decorator, and a landscape designer named Andre Le Notre. A special workshop with Flemish artisans was set up nearby at Maincy to execute Le Brun's tapestry designs. The chateau's 105 rooms were furnished with armchairs of Chinese plush and Persian carpets, vermilion and silver vases, crystal chandeliers and gold clocks.

As work progressed and costs spiraled, visitors drove daily from Fontainebleau to watch the construction. The young King became both irritated and suspicious. Where did Fouquet get all that money? He appointed his chief aide, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to delve into the Finance Minister's books.

Well aware that the King was watching him closely, Fouquet invited him to attend a banquet celebrating the completion of Vaux-le-Vicomte. It was an invitation Fouquet would regret. At 6 in the afternoon of Aug. 17, 1661, a luxurious equipage bearing the King, the Queen Mother and assorted attendants drove up. Fouquet showed the young King through the house and gardens. There followed a banquet for 6,000 guests, prepared by the master chef Vatel, served on gold, silver and lacquered plates. Afterward, the party watched a Moliere skit (with Moliere in the audience) accompanied by ballet and songs in the garden. This was followed by a fireworks display. It was all more than Louis could stand, for Colbert's dossier indicated clearly that Vaux-le-Vicomte had indeed been built with government money that Fouquet had diverted to himself. "Madame," he growled to his mother, "shall we make these people disgorge?"

Two Times Two. Nineteen days later, Fouquet was arrested on Louis' order, charged with treason and corrupt conduct. Fouquet was duly convicted, sentenced to life imprisonment, and died in jail 16 years afterward. Vaux-le-Vicomte was sealed, and its furniture was sold off to pay Fouquet's creditors. Louis XIV bought many of the best pieces at bargain prices. He hired Vatel as chef, commissioned Le Brun and Le Notre to build him a bigger, better and more splendid palace than Fouquet's. The result was Versailles.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Vaux-le-Vicomte passed from hand to hand. Its gardens became overgrown, its roofs fell into disrepair, its interiors were divided up into smaller rooms. Then, in 1875, Alfred Sommier, a commoner who had become a multimillionaire as an importer of sugar, bought the chateau and moved in. He spent the next 30 years restoring Vaux-le-Vicomte to its original glory. His great-grandson, Patrice de Vogueee, 40, still lives there, but has opened major rooms to the public--partly to defray maintenance costs and partly because "here in France, it is important to keep the public on your side. I don't want people to say 'What are those bastards doing, living in a place like that?' " In the next few weeks, U.S. Moviemaker Bud Yorkin will use it as the location to film Two Times Two, a comedy that, since it deals with the French Revolution, may also illustrate the importance of keeping the public on one's side.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.