Petit Trianon

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The Petit Trianon, Versailles

The Petit Trianon is a small château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel by the order of Louis XV for his long-term mistress, Madame de Pompadour, and was constructed between 1762-1768.

Madame de Pompadour died four years before its completion, and it was subsequently occupied by her successor, Madame du Barry. Upon his accession to the throne in 1774, the 20-year-old Louis XVI gave the château and its surrounding park to his 19-year-old Queen Marie Antoinette for her private domain.

The château of "Le Petit Trianon" is the perfect example of the transition from the Rococo style of the earlier part of the 18th century, to the more sober, but no less elegant, Neoclassical style of the 1760's onward. The exterior of the château is simple and elegant, architecturally correct, without the fussy ornmentaion of the Baroque period. It is essentially a two storey cube, with five windows on each side. A peristyle of four columns on the garden and courtyard facades, is the finishing touch to the exterior.

The interior is no doubt impressive, but not nearly as imposing as Versailles. It was here that Marie Antoinette would come to escape the formality of court life and the heavy responsibilities of being Queen. Everything at the Petit trianon was "par ordre de la Reine" (by order of the Queen.) No one was allowed to come onto the property without the Queen's invitation (not even King Louis XVI.) This caused quite an uproar amongst aristocrats, as only the Queen's "inner circle" (including the Princess de Lambelle, and the Comtess d'Artois) were allowed.

It is truly in the Queen's private apartments that we see her personal touch. Her boudoir shows the most ingenuity; by the turning of a simple crank, full-length mirrors slowly rise out of the floors, and into position in front of the windows. Her bedroom, although simple, is also elegant, provided with furniture from Georges Jacob and Jean Henri Riesener.