The canvas shows a panoramic view of the palace of Versailles and its gardens circa 1667-1668. The artist has placed here with very great precision the different buildings of the
Palace at the end of the first embellishment works ordered by Louis XIV from the architect Louis Le Vau who in 1634 had already modernised the brick and stone architecture of the small hunting lodge of Louis XIII.
The king still stayed occasionally in Versailles for hunts and festivities. The painter has accentuated the axis of the gardens which were to become the “Grand Perspective” by the invention of steep hills
on the sides.
Full title : View of the palace and gardens of Versailles, seen from the avenue de Paris in 1668
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