The Sun King's Garden

The Sun King's Garden by THOMPSON, Ian. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780747576488.

War-monger, womanizer and autocrat, Louis XIV, Francess self-styled Sun-King, was also historys most fanatical gardener. At Versailles, twelve miles outside Paris he created not only Europes most lavish palace but the most extensive gardens the Western world has ever seen. The Domaine Nationale de Versailles now covers 2,100 acres (about two and a half times the size of New Yorks Central Park) but in its heyday under Louis, the grand parc covered an astounding 16,343 acres. Assisting Louis in all this was a lowly-born gardener, Andre Le Notre, whose character and temperament were as different from those of his sovereign as it is possible to conceive. Where Louis was ruthless and relentlessly driven, celebrating his military and amorous conquests with ever more lavish plans for his gardens, Le Notre was down to earth, witty and amiable.- and phenomenally talented. While Louis could strike fear into the highest in the land with just a look, Le Notre enjoyed the kings trust and friendship for more than 40 years. In this lavishly illustrated book, Ian Thompson tells more comprehensively then ever before the intertwined stories of an extraordinary garden and an extraordinary friendship.