The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV Andre le Notre and the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles

About this book

Warmonger womanizer and autocrat Louis XIV may also have been historys most fanatical gardener. At Versailles twelve miles outside Paris Frances self-styled "Sun King" created not only Europes most lavish palace but beginning in 1661 the most extensive gardens the Western world has ever seen. Assisting Louis in this enterprise was the low-born gardener Andr Le Ntre 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 Le Ntre was down to earth witty and amiable and also phenomenally talented. While Louis could strike fear into the highest in the land with just a look Le Ntre enjoyed the kings trust and friendship for more than 40 years. In this lavishly illustrated book Ian Thompson tells more comprehensively than ever before the intertwined stories of an extraordinary garden and an extraordinary friendship.