La création de Marly : les rôles de Charles Le Brun, Jules Hardouin-Mansart et Louis XIV dans la conception de l’ensemble

Abstract

The originality of the Château de Marly lies, above all, in its architecture’s order on a system of pavilions and on the polychrome frescoes decorating all its facades. With just one quantitative point of view, all of the decor’s projects represent the most important designs of the first phase of Marly’s construction. Not only do these documents, among the oldest preserved, tell us about the first phase of design, but, in the case of the Royal Pavilion, they are also proof of a consultative process that took place between Le Brun and Mansart with a view to harmonizing the architecture and the system of trompe l’oeil decoration. The tradition of ephemeral decorations for feasts undoubtedly constituted the main source of inspiration for this decoration: the striking correspondence between the first overall project for Marly and the Illumination of the garden of Versailles organized in 1674 and 1676 — that we would like to attribute to Le Brun — which greatly interested Louis XIV for whom it represented a kind of ideal extension of the garden of Versailles, suggest that this provided the model for the initial idea of Marly. Meanwhile, Mansart’s role clearly appears as one of an extremely inventive architect who gave the site its concrete architectural form: his project for the secularized charterhouse as a retreat for the monarch presents no fewer fantastic characteristics. The project and realization of a concept so “risky” from all viewpoints were only possible because his sponsor saw the ideal transposition of his personal wishes and his aesthetic tastes in a location that enjoyed relative privacy.

Keywords

• Buen Retiro
• Charles Le Brun
• chartreuse
• ermitage
• fête
• illumination