Still Inside the Galerie des Glaces

This was actually the first sketch I did. One naturally looks up to the ceiling, plus my views toward the windows on the left were blocked by the masses of tourists, so it became a vertical sketch.

The Hall of Mirrors, or Galerie des Glaces, was started in 1678 by Mansart, who filled in a terrace and took over a few interior rooms to create this space.  It is symmetrically on axis with the vast view of the vast gardens.  For me, though, it was difficult to see the view out from the space.  I had originally thought I could have drawn the axial view to the gardens for my Gabriel Prize project, but it was too hard to see with the windows/doors closed to the outside.

Mirrors were extremely expensive to produce during the 1600's as the technology of the time made it very difficult to produce large sheets of glass...but workers were brought from Italy and the glass was made.  Today we don't see them as particularly large panes of glass, but it was a major production triumph and a major expense for that time.  To the courtiers, it must have been quite spectacular then, as it is still pretty over-the-top spectacular now.  After so many dark rooms throughout the palace, it is a relief to get to this space which sparkles with light and gold.  And after all, Louis XIV was the Sun King.

Difficult to draw and full of people, the Galerie des Glaces still
shimmers.  It was great to get the special permssion
to draw inside the chateau--my thanks to the Versailles Museum
for the opportunity.

Learning from Le Nôtre

With my Gabriel Prize project, I spent quite a bit of time at Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte. The landscape architect Le Nôtre (and this year is the 400th anniversary of his birth, so exhibits and celebrations are happening at all the châteaux he worked on), the architect Le Vau, and the interior designer/painter Le Brun all collaborated with each other in the mid-1600's to create both châteaux and vast gardens... which had a big influence on centuries of design.

In particular, I spent quite a bit of time in the gardens.  They are HUGE, the scale at Versailles is truly overwhelming.  I think I walked the grounds for days, and I was always faced with a dilemma:  do I spend time walking around, seeing and learning things, or do I sit and spend the time sketching and seeing less?  I tried to strike a balance, but it was difficult.

This is one of the sketches from Versailles that was part of a sequence through the spaces of the main axis.  Tomorrow, I'll post the entire sequence.

Learning from Le Nôtre

I learned so very much from doing these drawings, it was if I was peering directly into the mind of Le Nôtre as I discovered his use of perspective in the design. I never would have understood these things by simply snapping a photo. This learning through hand drawing and direct observation of architecture is the very premise of the Gabriel Prize award!

For example, note that the water in the distance appears to be tilting up!
Of course, the giant canal can't tilt, it's the plane in front that in fact ramps down...and look at that clever Le Nôtre...he places a sculpture/fountain right at the vanishing point for that sloping plane.  In fact, the head of Apollo IS the vanishing point, and the shape of the sculpture is a low, flat triangle that virtually completes the apex of the triangular grass area.

The walkways feel busy and populated--and they are, with carved topiary and white marble statues that punctuate the walk and contribute to the sense of perspective.

The Adventures of Sketching INSIDE Versailles

While I am still working on my Gabriel Prize images and sketches from Vaux, yesterday I went to Versailles to sketch.  I had been granted permission to sketch the interiors, a very rare opportunity that took weeks to get approved.  So official letter in hand, I battled the thousands of people (literally) in the château and headed straight for what Wikipedia says is one of the most famous rooms in the world , the Galerie des Glaces, or Versaille's famous Hall of Mirrors.

I knew this would be challenging.  I showed my letter to the guard, who read it 5 times and called 2 other people to review it (this is very France), then at last her chief showed up to give the final approval.  Then they were extremely nice.  So in a corner at the very end of the huge space, I plopped down my 3-legged REI stool, INSIDE the cordoned off area to the public, and slowly began to tackle this space.

I must say, it truly exhausted my brain.  The detail is overwhelming, the space is huge, and the hordes of tourists coming by were not only a distraction, but blocked much of my view. And, they took pictures of me!

Still, I knew this was an utterly amazing opportunity, and I HAD to do it...

Below are the three sketches I made of the interiors.  I was not permitted to pull out paints (understandable, as I can't get cobalt blue watercolor onto a rug from the 1600's), so I drew in pencil to be watercolored later.  And I'm nervous about applying the watercolor, so I'm posting the pencil images until I muster up the courage to pull out my paints today.

All in all, this was a great day.  A rare opportunity, a true challenge, and it was very, very fun. I loved it.  I think even Louis XIV would have been happy.

Galerie de Glaces, Château de Versailles, July 30, 2013
click on the image to see it larger.

Corner of the Grand Cabinet de Madame Victoire, Versailles

By brain was mush by this point...

The crowds had thinned out by this point and a very nice DJ from Canada kindly snapped this photo.

Finally, it's why I'm here!

Last week, there were finally a few breaks in the rain and gray, and I was able to go to Versailles for one full day, then Vaux le Vicomte for the rest of the weekend.  I made so much progress on my Gabriel Prize project as I was finally familiar enough with the gardens and châteaux to know what I needed to do.  And the weather cooperated!

Posted here are a few of the study sketches I did at Versailles which show a progression through the gardens designed primarily by Le Nôtre (but with the help of his colleagues architect Le Vau and painter/interior decorator Le Brun.)  The level of design sophistication is really amazing--take away the classical decoration, and these are surprisingly very modern gardens.  Designed just after the "discovery" of the formal principles of perspective and incorporating optics, science, philisophy of the time, Le Nôtre manipulates the views and progression through the gardens in amazing and clever ways, often involving sloping the ground plane up or down. He builds in interesting spatial surprises as well, all done with great subtlety so you don't realize you're being manipulated!

I sat with a silly grin on my face while doing the first sketch, as I felt like I was peaking into the mind of Le Nôtre himself. These are discoveries that can't be made by snapping a photo, but by DRAWING...finding the vanishing points, looking at how one element relates to another.  This was entirely the goal and purpose of the Gabriel Prize:  to learn about architecture through hand drawing on site...

I also rented a bike and happily pedalled around the entire grand canal, then rewarded myself with an ice cream cone.  A really GREAT day!

First real view of the gardens.  Look how the water of the Grand Canal
appears to slope up--it's an optical illusion!
Versailles.June 14

View further into the gardens.  Look how the vanishing point
of the sloped ground plane is right on Apollo's head in
the fountain scultpure.  Draws your eye right there!
Versailles. June 14

I love the many bosquets, which you typcially enter through dark green
narrow passageways only to find the sparkling white water of the fountain
in  the center.  This view focuses again right onto Apollo in the fountain.
The ground gently slopes down toward the fountain.
Versailles. June 14

Versailles, the fountains come alive!

I'm now at Versailles...me and a few thousand others from all corners of the world, each holding an umbrella.   Even more vast than Vaux, it literally takes days to see it.  I am here for four days, staying in the small and cozy Hôtel de France which is virtually across the street from the château entrance.  Any closer, and I'd be sleeping IN Versailles.  Perfect!

The building is immense and the gardens even more immense.  The scale is mind-boggling, but what has really surprised me is how modern the gardens are...tall, clipped hedges form huge green walls, and everywhere there is a slight change in the slope of the ground.  The grading is sublime and sophisticated...barely noticeable slopes up or down to fountains, into maze-like groves where Louis XIV's courtiers did who knows what, up and around the parterres so you can get a better view of the embroidery-like shaped shrubs, paths leading you from one place to the next with focal points and strong perspective.  What a place for me to be!

All of a sudden, the fountains came alive yesterday afternoon--unexpectedly, as it wasn't the regularly scheduled day.  It had been pouring rain earlier, but all of a sudden the sun popped out...I think the fountain gods decided to celebrate and coerced someone to flip the switch.  The spouting fountains absolutely transformed the place--suddenly there was movement, the sound of water, and the sparkle of light.

I literally ran from fountain to fountain trying to snap photos of as many as I could reach or find, as many are hidden. Exhausted, I collapsed near one of my favorites, le Bassin de la Pyramide.  I love how the water froths and turns white, it literally looks like a wedding cake with white, moving frosting. I had to attempt a sketch...

Versailles, Bassin de la Pyramide. May 29