Louis X1V built Versailles for the Court, the Trianon de Porcelaine for Madame de Montespan, the Grand Trianon (formerly the Trianon de Porcelaine) for his family and Marly for his friends. The Trianon, Marly and later Marie-Antoinette’s Le Petit Trianon and indeed the Hameau were ‘hermitages’, places of retreat. Louis led his life in the full gaze of the court and the public. The people could enter Versailles and view the King, indeed the only stipulation was that they have a hat and sword; these could be hired at the gates! The Trianon and Marly were strictly by Kings invitation only.

 

 

The not always accurate chronicler Saint-Simon wrote ‘The King, tired of magnificence and publicity persuaded himself that he wanted something small and sequestered’. Historians will argue the motives behind the construction of Marly, but what they cannot argue over is that it was ranked as one of the most magnificent gardens in France.

Once Louis had decided on this new building project he could not have had any doubts as to how the finished result would look. He had been commissioning buildings and gardens for eighteen years and had no misgivings as to how his architects, gardeners and artists would perform their new tasks. One point of note is that at the time of construction his most talented artist Le Notre was away in Rome and Hardouin-Mansard worked with all speed to construct the garden in his absence!

Louis was recommended various sites for the chateau and garden. He listened to suggestions that it should be built on the slopes around Saint-Germain or at Luciennes, but he dismissed these choices as being potentially too costly and ruinous. Louis knew that he was most likely to get carried away and find the new project swallowed up inestimable sums of money.  According to Saint–Simon, Louis replied to the choice of Luciennes by saying, ‘such a lovely site would ruin me and that since I plan a mere trifle I want a site that will allow me to build that and no more’.

Eventually the chosen position was behind Luciennes in a boggy site in a steep sided rocky valley enclosed by hills limiting any vista and having difficulty in approach due to marsh. The fact that it was enclosed with no risk of the garden ‘spreading’ out of control was the main point that attracted Louis to the site. Of course the Kings plans grew and Marly eventually ended up grander than it was first considered. The hills were cut into, to make way for twelve small pavilions surrounding the main small Chateau. Louis inhabited this chateau called ‘The Sun’ and his guests stayed in the pavilions. All the pavilions were connected to ‘The Sun’ via arbours of scented shrubs.

 

 

Marly was full of statures and ornament. Many were lost during and after the revolution, this piece moved many times but has finally come to rest at the Louvre.

The garden unlike Versailles was never short of water, the giant ‘machine of Marly’ saw to that. Marly gloried in waterfalls, fountains, pools, cascades, goldfish ponds and jets on an unprecedented scale. Because there was all the water needed at Marly what is the tapis vert at Versailles and the parterres at Vaux became a chain of elaborate water features on the axis at Marly. Scented walks ran parallel to each other at differing levels and travelled through bosquets and past cascades. Flowers were in abundance the King delighted in Jasmine, orange blossom and his most favourite plant, the tuberoses. Over a four year period his new passion for Tulips was indulged, with over eighteen million tulip bubs planted!  The tulip bulbs came from Holland where his arch enemy William III at times cut of the supply.

 

The Great Cascade known as the ‘Riviere’. Louis XV replaced this with a grass ride but the pond that the water flowed into is still intact although all the gilt work and marble have long since been lost.

A fact that can never be underestimated is the store by which an invitation to Marly was held. The pinnacle of a noble person’s life would be an invitation. The King would visit Marly from a Wednesday to Saturday and prior to this courtiers would petition Louis for an invitation by simply saying ‘’Sire, Marly!’’ The strict court protocol was relaxed, men while walking in the garden were allowed to wear their hats and all could sit down in the salon. On one occasion the Abbe de Polignac was with Louis in the garden when it started to rain. Louis commented that the Abbe was not dressed for the weather. The Abbe simply said, ‘’Sire, the rain never wets at Marly’’.

Part of the Louveciennes aqueduct that transported water pumped by the ‘Machine of Marly’ to Marly and Versailles.

The thousands of trees that were planted at Marly (mature trees transplanted form Compiegne) and gardens declined after the death of Louis in September 1715. Marly was not seen as fashionable by the next two Kings. The final destruction occurred during the revolution and today virtually all is lost! Marly though remains a garden worth a visit. The pervading air is one of paradise lost and more than Versailles or anywhere Louis created, you feel close to the Sun King.

The site of the main chateau