Paris - Petit Trianon - Versailles

Plate CIX - Petit Trianon …

The second of the Trianons of Versailles, the Petit Trianon also had its origins as a residence for a mistress of the King, this time being designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel for the famed Madame de Pompadour, long-term paramour of Louis XV. Having died before its completion in 1768 it became occupied by her successor Madame du Barry.

The exterior façade of the building is simple, a radical departure from the elaborate Rococo style typifying the architecture of the main palace. The Petit Trianon was to inspire architecture of the period around the world including it is supposed the Governor’s Mansion in far afield Kentucky in the USA.

In 1774, the 20 year old Louis XVI gave the chateau as a gift to his wife Marie Antoinette for her sole use. Grand ideas, that were never fully realised, were planned to isolate the queen and her exclusively noble guests from interaction with her retinue. These included a mechanical arrangement in the dining hall by which the table could be lowered through the floor into the chamber below for place setting,  and then raised back into position for royal dining.

The preserved and restored interiors, while contrasting with the opulence of the main palace, continue to reflect the Queen’s importance in the royal firmament.

Paris - Sèvres Porcelain Works - Sèvres

Plate CI – Sevres …

It is an obvious segue from Vincennes to Sèvres, for as already mentioned, the manufacturing tradition of Sèvres porcelain started with the migration of workers from Chantilly to the royal porcelain works at the Château de Vincennes in the 1730s.

Whether or not you personally like the baroque and rococo elaborate style of many traditional Sèvres wares with their richly hued decorative work, you cannot fail to be impressed by the mastery of the manufactory’s artists over the centuries. From vases, urns and chalices destined for the earlier French royal patrons to the numerous dinner services commissioned for Presidents in residence at Washington’s White House in the United States, the quality of goods produced is impeccable.

Moved to these larger quarters in Sèvres in 1756 at the instigation Louis XV and his obviously influential mistress Madame de Pompadour, French porcelain set out to better the standards of German competitors at Meissen and Dresden. Highly prized, and highly priced, early production was extremely limited and affordable only by nobility – the King himself conducting major sales from his residence at Versailles. Most early Sèvres works were of a soft bisque type, unable to compete with the kaolin based hard paste output of the Germans. Interrupted by the Revolution, it was Napoleon’s appointed director Alexandre Brogniart who is today attributed with having saved the Sèvres works from extinction. Brogniart held this post some 47 years. The discovery in 1769 of kaolin deposits in the Perigord region at Limoges (another notable though more modern French producing region of porcelain wares) eliminated the making of soft paste products entirely. The factory is today run under the auspices of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication; such is its national importance.

At the Sèvres works is a museum (founded by Brogniart in 1824) devoted to an incredible collection of historic works and designs; a veritable treat for the eye. There is also a Sèvres shop where collector’s pieces, including some reproduction traditional works may be bought. I treated myself to a much prized plain white bisque medallion of the Emperor Napoleon – one of the very few travel ‘souvenirs’ I have acquired - a Napoleon in my pocket. My visit to Sèvres was intended to be a stopover visit en-route to Versailles. That would have been an injustice, and Versailles had to wait for another day.

Paris - Château de Vincennes - 12me

Plate XCVII - Chateau de Vincennes …

I have broken a self imposed rule of posting pictures by arrondissement, firstly because Vincennes is very much on the edges of the city, and secondly because, sadly, my visit here was towards the end of my stay in Paris making its placement seem appropriate. With only a few evenings and half weekend ahead of me there was still so much I wanted to do. What would it be – Disneyland Paris, Parc Asterix or Vincennes? Having been disappointed by the Bois de Boulogne, I decided that the Bois de Vincennes would perhaps bring some compensation; Disneyland was a definite no-go - I’ll keep American culture for trips to America, bad enough that I had to be confronted with both a Disney store and the ubiquitous McDonalds on the Champs Elysées. (Such, sadly, is part of the price of globalisation). The Parc devoted to the plucky little Gaul we know as Asterix was tempting, but a dip into the history of Chateau de Vincennes convinced me there simply was no contest – for it is at Vincennes that so much French royal history and culture has it early records.

The Château itself, again open to the public, was closed during my trip and so I had to be contented to admire it from the exterior walls. The towering Donjon (52 metres), started in April 1361, is certainly impressive.  The first recorded royal hunting dwelling here dates back to the early eleventh century. It was however during the reign of Louis IX (St Louis) in the thirteenth century that its royal residence status became more widely acknowledged, and it was from here that Louis set out on his crusades. Main work on the Châtelet of the donjon was probably completed in 1369 in the reign of Charles V, who was born and who died here. It was here too that the Relics of The Passion (supposedly Christ’s Crown of Thorns) were held following their acquisition from the Emperor of Constantinople and prior to their transfer to Ste. Chapelle in Paris. Vincennes fell out of royal favour during the reign of Louis XIII as attention began to focus on Versailles. Following the destruction of the Bastille during the revolution, prison overcrowding became an issue in Paris, and in 1790 the National Assembly decreed that the donjon was to be at the disposal of the city. Rumours of the construction of a new Bastille at Vincennes had workers marching on the donjon to bring about its destruction, an act prevented by General Lafayette during events known as the ‘Affaires de Vincennes’. The Château became the headquarters for the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces from 1936 until 1940 when it was occupied by German troops, who inflicted heavy damages on the buildings on their withdrawal in August 1944. Restoration of the Château has been ongoing since 1988.

A porcelain manufactory established in Vincennes in 1738 by migrants from Chantilly, was later moved to the suburban town of Sèvres under the patronage of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. We’ll visit there shortly.

Paris - The Ecole Militaire - 7me

Plate LXIV – The Military Academy…

I have at least two occasional recurring dreams. One has me back at school, the other back in the army (I was part of a generation of conscripted military trainees). Neither was a time I'd voluntarily relive - so my fascination with, and visit to, a military academy (combining those two facets of life) seems a little inexplicable. But - such is the effect of the passage of time: while history was a school subject I'd rather have avoided, as I've grown older my fascination with the past has grown deeper and stronger. So, down the other notable Champs of Paris I went walking.
The panoramic Champs de Mars which lies before Eiffel’s famous tower was once the parade ground of the Military Academy (Ecole Militaire).

The academy buildings, completed by Jacques-Ange Gabriel (who also laid out the Place de la Concorde) in 1773 still house the French War College, and public visits are not generally allowed. The Ecole was built in the reign of Louis XIV on an initiative backed by the King’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, who apparently believed that young men from all walks of life, especially the lower classes, should be able to pursue a military career. It was here after his first year that a young Corsican named Napoleon Bonaparte graduated as a second lieutenant (artillery) in 1785. A later notable graduate of the école was Charles de Gaulle.