Great Homes of the World: Vaux-le-Vicomte
Classical design born of the French Aristocracy
Just 34 miles from Paris stands the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte, the glorious culmination of five years of renovation and expansion lead by a trifecta of French professional artists from 1656 to 1661. It is considered one of the most influential works of architecture, along with the Palace of Versailles, of mid-17th century Europe.
Aristocrat Nicolas Fouquet purchased Vaux-le-Vicomte in 1641 when it was a small estate located between two royal residences. When he became the superintendent of finance under King Louis XIV of France in 1656, he decided his home needed a major facelift to match his advancing position in the country. He set about making his aspirations for an estate and gardens happen, first by buying and demolishing three nearby villages and then by hiring the most esteemed professionals in the country to oversee the project—architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André Le Nôtre, and designer Charles Le Brun. Working together, these three artisans created a cohesive composition of Vaux-le-Vicomte that showcased the power and control of Fouquet. The three of them would later go on to design the Palace of Versailles, and they used Vaux-le-Vicomte as the basis for the larger and grander palace that Louis XIV would ask them to expand and renovate.
Fouquet loved the arts, and he envisioned his new château as a place of feasting and artistic performances. He turned over the reins to his design team to create an estate fit for a king – literally. The architect designed and expanded the residence in a symmetrical floor plan, with the eastern and western halves identical. A staircase on each side kept the flow balanced. The western half was retained for Fouquet’s use, while the eastern rooms were set aside for use by King Louis XIV when he traveled on business. Setting aside a section for the king was standard practice at the time in aristocratic government homes. Dividing a home into public and private spaces designated for certain uses is what we often call a pavilion-style floor plan today.
Le Vau originally designed the rooms in the center as an open-air loggia, with a design reminiscent of the outdoors. The center has three sets of arches aligned, so there is a view from the entrance all the way through to the gardens outside. While the central portion was enclosed during a later renovation, replacing iron gates in the arches with glass doors kept the in-out flow that is still popular in residential construction today. 
The château sits on a platform surrounded by a moat, a holdover from medieval times. Accessed by two bridges, its overall design is a u-shaped floor plan. It is an example of French Baroque architecture, also called French Classicism. The style epitomizes regularity and order and the use of colonnades and cupolas to emphasize the owner’s power. Vaux-le-Vicomte is similar in design to Luxembourg Palace but is distinctive because of the landscaping around it. In keeping with Baroque style, it features a large dome on the south side facing the gardens covered with a slate roof that serves as the double-height circular Grand Salon. Le Vau adopted the idea of a central oval salon from Italian architecture. A mansard roof nods to Baroque style, while a two-story portico was copied from Hotel Tambonneau. He incorporated both modern forms (for the time) and dated elements while straying somewhat from classical architecture.
Designer and artist Le Brun was the epitome of a Baroque designer. He painted the detailed custom murals inside Vaux-le-Vicomte, including the ceiling frescoes. His use of opulent color on the interiors is another hallmark of Baroque design. The king loved Le Brun’s work so much, he commissioned him to oversee the design of all of the royal palaces once Le Brun was finished at Vaux-le-Vicomte. A Parisian, Le Brun spent a few years studying ancient sculpture in Rome, later establishing and running the French Royal Academy of Painting & Sculpture.
One of the most unique features in a residence during this time period was exemplified in Vaux-le-Vicomte’s formal ornamental gardens designed by the royal gardener André Le Nôtre, who was trained in the gardens of Les Tuileries by his father. His work at Vaux-le-Vicomte earned him fame and fortune. His geometric garden design was naturally watered by two rivers and spread over 1,235 acres. Like the architecture, the landscape is a study in balanced symmetry, with a canal, water features, a large sloping lawn, gravel walkways and patterned parterres. An optical illusion makes the reflecting pools appear closer to viewers than they actually are. Le Nôtre designed the pools narrower near the house to provide this effect. A large reflecting pool with grottos and statues is the centerpiece of the layout. The entire gardens cannot be seen from the home, but Le Nôtre gave the effect that a glance could take them all in, and they appear as a magnificent representation of his capabilities.
The three artisans—sharing the design and implementation of Vaux-le-Vicomte in a collaborative working relationship—produced an estate in which the architecture, interior design and landscape worked in concert to achieve a grand composition that represented power. This ostentatious display, unfortunately, led a rival to report Fouquet as misappropriating state funds, resulting in the king firing him and jailing him for the rest of his life. Fouquet’s wife—after a decade-long exile due to a banishment order from the king—came back to live at Vaux-le-Vicomte before she later sold it. After 30 years of neglect, the château sold at auction to a private family who has owned it since 1875 and restored it to its former glory.
