This is awesome, another reason to visit my belle France, in all its splendeurs! A must to visit indeed. Another wonderful memory of my dear late wife Martine, and I traveling in her native department the beauty is amazing. We came here the second year after marriage in 1992 and have been coming here regularly in our visits from the USA, and ,then, while living in France. This is a wonderful story and a beautiful castle still in private hands ! Do see my other posts on the castle in my blog, as this will be short and sassy with new pictures ,even if some repeated text.This is all from our latest visit this week. A reminder, the Château Vaux le Vicomte is in the village of Maincy, Seine et Marne dept 77 of the Île de France region, of my belle France. Hope you enjoy again the sublime Château Vaux le Vicomte and the Grand Salon as I.
The Grand Salon is found after crossing the vestibule, located under the dome. It is oval; an innovation for the time, which preferred the galleries. The idea is directly inspired by the Italian Baroque. The decoration planned by Le Brun is not finished, Fouquet having been arrested before.Le Brun had planned a vault ; the first for a private building famous on the theme of Palace of the Sun. This was not finished but the maps are in the Louvre museum today. At its place, the previous owner Mr Sommier put 12 busts in marbre of famous personages like emperors and Romans Italian works of the 17C coming from the collection of the Prince Napoleon. However, there are 4 busts high up in the columns around the north and south doors that have never left Vaux-le-Vicomte since 1661.
This is where Nicolas Fouquet gave the party with guess king Louis XIV on a room or salon 18 meters long by 18 meters wide was still unfinished. Here it is represented in arcades beautiful cariads representing the 12 signs of the zodiac and the four seasons, with below decorations of flowers, fruits and animals. It is an impressive room and one of the highlights of the visit by many visitors including me !
In the center of the castle is the Grand Salon, around which the apartments and the gardens are organized. Contrary to the fashion of the time, which favored large galleries, Le Vau designed an oval, Italian-style room under a dome almost 18 meters high. Charles Le Brun designed a decor that was both sculpted and painted for the room. Sixteen carvings representing the signs of the zodiac and the seasons guide the viewer’s eyes upward. For the dome, he imagined a large fresco representing the extent of knowledge in architecture, sculpture, painting, astronomy, astrology, history and geography. The work, was completed, one of the largest and most daring of the time in France.
It was deteriorating and the owners and government organisms as well as private citizens friends of the castle like me got the funds together for a restoration which was finished in 2021, The restoration was done in three phases. First, the craftsmen clean the dome, heal its cracks and restore its painted sky. Then, they clean the stuccoes and repair the damaged supports by removing paint from the decorations and filling in the cracks. Finally, they make a digital projection of Le Brun’s preparatory drawings found and preserved in the Graphic Arts Department of the Louvre Museum. For this, the drawings are digitized, colored and projected onto the dome. An engraving by Gérard Audran using sketches by Charles Le Brun allows the curators to place the various objects and characters in the fresco. Simply awesome !!!
The official Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte: https://vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/
The Seine et Marne dept 77 tourist office on the castle: https://www.seineetmarnevivreengrand.fr/explorer/676128/
The town of Maincy on its heritage/castle: https://www.maincy.fr/patrimoine/
There you go folks, another dandy road warrior trip this time only with my 3 young men and dog Rex , less but nevertheless, a wonderfully trip down memory lane in Seine et Marne, dept 77. The Château Vaux le Vicomte have written plenty on it in my blog but , never enough on this marvel of our belle France ; of course I am friend of the castle since 2004 and have come more times that I write about it as many in our official visits pictures are not allowed, You must come here to the Château de Vaux le Vicomte and enjoy the wonders of my Seine et Marne, This is a wonderful dome room that must be visited several times !!! and merit philosophical time on them forever,,,Again, hope you enjoy the post on the Château Vaux Le Vicomte ,and the Grand Salon as I
And remember, happy travels, good health,and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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