Château de Choisy

==The Château of La Grande Mademoiselle==

==The Château of La Grande Mademoiselle==

The site had been purchased well before 1680[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/mlle/partie3/chap302.html Mémoires of Mlle de Montpensier, part iii, chapter 2: 1680: "Toute ma vie j'avois eu envie d'avoir une maison auprès de Paris..."]. The ''allées'' she had planted were already "coming along very well" by the time she wrote the memoire under the year 1680. by [[Louis XIV]]'s first cousin [[Anne, Duchess of Montpensier|Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de Montpensier]], "La Grande Mademoiselle". She laid out 40,000 ''[[French livre|livres]]'' for the property, and swept away an existing ''[[corps de logis]]'', according to her ''Mémoires'', and had a new house built to plans of [[Jacques Gabriel]]—"who made ''my'' house to ''my'' fashion" Mlle Montpensier noted, "without any ornament or 'architecture'""sans aucun ornement ni architecture." Mlle de Montpesier's own taste ruled: "If I had wished to read one of the books on the subject, I could have made a pretty description; but that would have been an affectation that suits me not at all." Mlle de Montpensier's authoritative taste may be detected in Le Nôtre's garden design (''left''), which quite uncharacteristically multiplies autonomous features without a broad unifying scheme. "I have planted many ''[[allée]]s'' which are coming along very well" she remarked in 1680, but the reader scrutinizing the plan will notice that few of the allées begin or end at a place of great consequence, one sure mark of a strong-minded and enthusiastic amateur. an assertion that overlooked sculptural enrichments in the pediment, by [[Étienne Le Hongre]].

The site had been purchased well before 1680[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/mlle/partie3/chap302.html Mémoires of Mlle de Montpensier, part iii, chapter 2: 1680: "Toute ma vie j'avois eu envie d'avoir une maison auprès de Paris..."]. The ''allées'' she had planted were already "coming along very well" by the time she wrote the memoire under the year 1680. by [[Louis XIV]]'s first cousin [[Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier]], "La Grande Mademoiselle". She laid out 40,000 ''[[French livre|livres]]'' for the property, and swept away an existing ''[[corps de logis]]'', according to her ''Mémoires'', and had a new house built to plans of [[Jacques Gabriel]]—"who made ''my'' house to ''my'' fashion" Mlle Montpensier noted, "without any ornament or 'architecture'""sans aucun ornement ni architecture." Mlle de Montpesier's own taste ruled: "If I had wished to read one of the books on the subject, I could have made a pretty description; but that would have been an affectation that suits me not at all." Mlle de Montpensier's authoritative taste may be detected in Le Nôtre's garden design (''left''), which quite uncharacteristically multiplies autonomous features without a broad unifying scheme. "I have planted many ''[[allée]]s'' which are coming along very well" she remarked in 1680, but the reader scrutinizing the plan will notice that few of the allées begin or end at a place of great consequence, one sure mark of a strong-minded and enthusiastic amateur. an assertion that overlooked sculptural enrichments in the pediment, by [[Étienne Le Hongre]].

The Château de Choisy was set in an elaborate series of gardens laid out by [[André Le Nôtre]]. He was called in before the few existing buildings were swept away and found the site too closed in by dense woodlands: "There one only saw the riverbank as if through a [[dormer window]],""On n'y voyait la rivière que comme par une lucarne", he told the king—who passed on the remark— and advised Mlle de Montpensier to begin in this ''"vilaine situation"'' by "laying low all the woods that were there".[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/mlle/partie3/chap302.html Memoires of Mlle de Montpesier, part iii, chapter 2: 1680] The view of the river was the main thing, and Mlle de Montpensier calculated it to advantage: "As I had my house built in order to go there in summer, I took measures in order that one might see the river in the time of year when it is at its lowest; from my bed I see it and all the boats that pass.""Comme j'ai fait bâtir ma maison pour y aller en été, j'ai pris mes mesures pour que l'on vît la rivière dans le temps où elle est la plus basse; de mon lit, je la vois et passer tous les bateaux."

The Château de Choisy was set in an elaborate series of gardens laid out by [[André Le Nôtre]]. He was called in before the few existing buildings were swept away and found the site too closed in by dense woodlands: "There one only saw the riverbank as if through a [[dormer window]],""On n'y voyait la rivière que comme par une lucarne", he told the king—who passed on the remark— and advised Mlle de Montpensier to begin in this ''"vilaine situation"'' by "laying low all the woods that were there".[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/mlle/partie3/chap302.html Memoires of Mlle de Montpesier, part iii, chapter 2: 1680] The view of the river was the main thing, and Mlle de Montpensier calculated it to advantage: "As I had my house built in order to go there in summer, I took measures in order that one might see the river in the time of year when it is at its lowest; from my bed I see it and all the boats that pass.""Comme j'ai fait bâtir ma maison pour y aller en été, j'ai pris mes mesures pour que l'on vît la rivière dans le temps où elle est la plus basse; de mon lit, je la vois et passer tous les bateaux."

The lost château is known today through engravings by [[Pierre-Jean Mariette]], [[Gabriel Perelle]] and [[Pierre Aveline]]. Its interiors were well described in the Grande Mademoiselle's ''Mémoires''.

The lost château is known today through engravings by [[Pierre-Jean Mariette]], [[Gabriel Perelle]] and [[Pierre Aveline]]. Its interiors were well described in the Grande Mademoiselle's ''Mémoires''.

The château passed in 1693[[Germain Boffrand]], later an architect of repute, was paid this year for drawing plans of Choisy (Kimball 1943, p 38) to ''[[Louis, Dauphin of France (1661-1711)|le Grand Dauphin]]'', who had some interior modifications executed (Kimball 1943 p 51) before exchanging it in 1695 for [[Meudon]],The Château de Meudon (demolished) was the property of Anne de Souvré, widow of [[François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois|Louvois]]. more accessible from Versailles.

The château passed in 1693[[Germain Boffrand]], later an architect of repute, was paid this year for drawing plans of Choisy (Kimball 1943, p 38) to ''[[Louis, Grand Dauphin|le Grand Dauphin]]'', who had some interior modifications executed (Kimball 1943 p 51) before exchanging it in 1695 for [[Meudon]],The Château de Meudon (demolished) was the property of Anne de Souvré, widow of [[François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois|Louvois]]. more accessible from Versailles.

==Reign of Louis XV==

==Reign of Louis XV==