Cultural memory and the role of Louis XV in the creation of the Petit Trianon gardens at Versailles

Though scholars have studied meaning in the built environments of Louis XIV quite extensively, they have largely overlooked hermeneutic significance in the gardens, architecture, and interiors of Louis XV. A growing revisionist history concerning this sovereign and his reign fully justifies a parallel reevaluation of the venues he created. Analysis of Louis XV's Petit Trianon gardens between 1749 and 1774 provides strong evidence of the king's creative agency and an opportunity to observe how the site communicated his interests, vision, and circumstances. In fact, under Louis XV, the gardens manifested content of memorial, political, intellectual, spiritual, social, and cultural significance.Original 18th-century plans and elevations serve as the primary source of data in investigating specific expressions of meaning within the Petit Trianon gardens. To support findings yielded by plans and elevations, the study also incorporates material from journals, memoirs, correspondence, the Encyclopedie, paintings, engravings, sculpture, and other pertinent sources.Chapter one discusses the use of the French Pavilion and the menagerie as a memorialization of Louis XIV. It further considers how these nodes fused French territorial ideals with an Enlightenment-era preoccupation with the betterment of society. Finally, it indicates that the menagerie, in particular, speaks to a gradual shift in French perceptions of rulership.Chapter two examines the development of Louis XV's substantial botanic collections at the Petit Trianon. It argues that the king intended the collections as a lasting, personal legacy that would advance his kingdom scientifically, agriculturally, and commercially well into the future. It also discusses reasons for the failure of that legacy. Evidence presented in the chapter indicates that Louis XV had a more complex relationship to the Enlightenment that generally acknowledged.Chapter three reassesses the creative role of Madame de Pompadour in the gardens. It suggests that she intentionally limited her involvement there in order to increase her credibility as friend to the king. The chapter additionally re-assesses the role of pleasure in the gardens. It demythologizes the Petit Trianon as a sexual pleasure ground while asserting that pleasure in learning nevertheless played a crucial part in the site's development.