Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. I wanted to love this book as a huge lover of all things King Louis XIV and Versailles. While some of the book was quite interesting most of it felt disorganized and lacking a focal point. I tried to push through but ultimately DNF’d it at 70%

Louis Le Vau(d.11 October 1670) was an architect who helped develop the French Classical style in the 17th century.Born Louis Le Veau,he was the son of Parisian stonemason,Louis Le Veau.His younger brother François,was also an architect.Both father and sons worked together in the 1630s and 1640s.The two brothers later changed the spelling of their surname from "Le Veau" to "Le Vau" as the word veau means calf in French.Le Vau began his career by designing the Hotel de Bautru in 1634.By 1639,he was developing town houses(hôtels particuliers)for rich citizens such as Sainctot,Hesselin, Gillier,Gruyn des Bordes,and Jean Baptiste Lambert.Le Vau also designed country houses,including the Château de Livry(c. 1640–1645),later the Château du Raincy.In 1654,his career was advanced through his appointment as the first architect to Louis XIV,succeeding Jacques Lemercier.He was commissioned by Jules Cardinal Mazarin to help rebuild part of the medieval Château de Vincennes.In 1656 he was given the important commission to build the chateau of Nicolas Fouquet, Vaux-le-Vicomte with the help of André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun.Le Vau's most notable work in the Vaux-le-Vicomte is the oval salon facing the garden.In the 1660s Le Vau helped on royal projects,such as the La Salpêtrière Hospital and the Tuileries Palace facade.From 1661-1664 Le Vau worked on rebuilding the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre after a fire.Claude Perrault and Charles Le Brun helped create the east front façade of the Louvre from 1665-1674,which acted as a prelude for Classical Architecture in the 18th century.The most notable work of Le Vau's career was the Palace of Versailles.He added service wings to the forecourts and, after 1668, had rebuilt the garden façade to be fully Classical.Le Vau was assisted by François d'Orbay,who completed the work after Le Vau's death.Le Vau and d'Orbay's work at Versailles was later modified and extended by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.Le Vau's designs for the Collège des Quatre-Nations(now housing the Institut de France)were completed after his death by François d'Orbay and showed unlikely rapport with Italian baroque techniques.

November 29, 2023
I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.

I was really excited to read this book. However it was not for me. This random architect has his whole life in this book but he is not the main person the author writes about. The language goes back and forth between informal and formal and gives you whiplash. There are so many facts that are unnecessary because I skim read and still know what the book is about. I wish the author would decide if he wanted to write a research book or a novel because this book is both and also not. If you love reading tons of architecture facts this is for you! If you know all about ancient French history this is for you! Otherwise the last paragraph sums up everything you need to know. I enjoyed skimming this book.

This is a very interesting book on 17th century French architecture and the sociopolitical context around it, told through a focus on the royal architect Louis Le Vau. Unfortunately, the book doesn't have any architectural diagrams or pictures, leading the reader reliant on imagination and/or copious internet searching. While the author remarks, at one point, that it's not a coffee table book (i.e. a book primarily composed of pictures), Simon Thurley's "Houses of Power" and "Palaces of Revolution" prove that it's possible to write an excellent, text-first architecture book that still has enough diagrams, illustrations, and images to ground the verbal descriptions in the material culture they describe. That said, if you're interested in the history of French royal palaces from this time period - from the Louvre to Versailles - this is still a great read.

This history explores the era of Louis XIV through the lens of architect Louis Le Vau. Born to humble craftsmen, the self-taught Le Vau contributed to iconic Paris buildings like the Louvre and Versailles. Amid court intrigues and the mercurial king’s demands, his ambition drove him to leave an indelible architectural mark. Le Vau’s story provides insight into the social and cultural forces shaping 17th century France.

This scholarly work is a detailed and illustrative study for fans of architectural history. It delves into Le Vau's personal life as well as the business of the court.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

A fascinating account of Louis Le Vau, who was a self taught, meticulous and extremely accommodating architect to Louis the XIV, The Sun King. Le Vau learnt his trade from his father, who was a master mason. Le Vau was educated and had an elegant hand in writing as shown by surviving contracts and designs , but there are no portraits and few personal letters to give us an insight of the Man himself.
At the young age of 25, Le Vau became an architect to the King, and was promoted to First Architect t in 1654.
His masterpiece is the College des Quatre Nations, built to honour Cardinal Mazarin, First Minister and trusted advisor to the King. Today, that building is part of the Sorbonne University, and survived the French Revolution, due to it allowing access to the lower classes twice a week, to promote education.
Today, Le Vau’s work can be seen at the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles especially. At Versailles , he is best known for the State apartments used by the King and Queen, and Le Vau’s Envelope, which is a white stone facade on the garden side of the original hunting lodge, which comprises of the addition of wings to the north and south side ,that covers the original building and provides an extension to increase the footprint, whilst not damaging the original fabric of the building. Le Vau also build the first orangery at Versailles and the Menagerie. He also constructed several mansions and chateau’s for private individuals.
I enjoyed this book as it gave me the perfect excuse to rewatch the BBC series Versailles, it does show a few aspects of the relevant work executed by Le Vau.
I was extremely grateful for the very comprehensive glossary of architectural terms!
My thanks go to Netgalley and the publishers Pen and Sword History, for my advanced digital copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. A four star read, I would have liked a few illustrations of the relevant architecture being discussed.
I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK.

When you first think of some of 17th century France, you might immediately think of King Louis XIV or Versailles or the Nine Years’ War—these are all important factors that made France one of the greatest powers in Europe, a force to be reckoned with, so to speak. But there is one person whose name might slip your mind who plays just as equally a huge part in why 17th century France is so remembered is that of Louis Le Vau, one of Louis XIV’s best architects and the man responsible for some of France’s greatest buildings.

As someone who eagerly devours anything related to Louis XIV or the construction of the great Palace of Versailles, I was baffled at the thought that most people probably do not know much about the talented men behind the creation of Versailles as well as many other buildings constructed during Louis XIV’s reign. In this book written by the gifted French historian Richard Ballard, we are offered a glimpse into the life and accomplishments of Louis Le Vau, born under the name Louis Le Veau but later changed to avoid the meaning of Veau which is calf—potentially saving himself ridicule down the line to be referred to as a child (essentially what a calf is, right?)

Richard Ballard explores Louis Le Vau’s greatest accomplishments including the Château de Vincennes, Château Vau-le-Vicomte, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and most famously, the Palace of Versailles. Now, I don’t know too much about the intricacies of architecture but this novel allows readers who are both familiar and unfamiliar with architecture to enjoy learning about Louis Le Vac’s work on these historic buildings. We learn about how he became one of the most respected architects of his time and how his successors would try their best to go above and beyond what their predecessor was able to achieve for France.

I employ you all to give it a chance!

Thank you for providing advanced access to this book. We are always looking to add architectural histories to our collection and this fills that need.

Although we are relaxing on purchasing European-centered titles in favor of a more global architectural history collection, this title speaks to a global trend. This title is special, in particular, for its focus on the autonomy of an architect during this period under the King of France, which speaks to a much larger global consideration of architectural autonomy/royal commissions/politics.

Moreover, because there has not yet been a biography on Louis Le Vau and this period of study is so popular, we will be purchasing this title. As an undergraduate university, we have to be picky about the types of focused academic texts we bring in since students are not undergoing rigorous academic work. This fits the bill in that it moves linearly, is fast-paced, and focuses on the social, cultural, and economic history of the period. The first few chapters do move a little too quickly and relies on the reader to fill in cultural relevance of the time period, but by the time the book begins to focus on Louis Le Vau, the author begins to slow down and expand upon ideas.

Information dense and detail-heavy. It took me a while to go through chapters, and it was fun reading and learning about Le Vau's projects, clients, and how he approached beauty. He really did capture Louis XIV's vision of opulence and absolution. This book tells so much more about Le Vau's genius and how it immortalized Louis XIV's Versailles.

An interesting look at the first architect of Versailles as a royal palace and the creator of Vaux Le Vicomte and the world that created him.

Detailed historical research based on a number of sources on my favourite period and place ie Louis 14th in the seventeenth century, and specifically his architect. This is a masterpiece of historical information and the author is to be congratulated on this achievement. Highly recommended.