Editing Vaux-le-Vicomte (section)

==History==
[[File:Nicolas Fouquet.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|Fouquet}}]]
Once a small château between the royal residences of [[Château de Vincennes|Vincennes]] and [[Château de Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]], the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte was purchased in 1641 by [[Nicolas Fouquet]], an ambitious 26-year-old member of the [[Parlement of Paris]]. Fouquet was an avid patron of the arts, attracting many artists with his generosity.

When Fouquet became King Louis XIV's [[Superintendent of Finances]] in 1656, he commissioned Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Nôtre to renovate his estate and garden to match his grand ambition. Fouquet's artistic and cultivated personality subsequently brought out the best in the three.<ref name="vaux-le-vicomte.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/index.php|title=Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte – Vaux le Vicomte|work=Vaux le Vicomte|access-date=14 December 2015}}</ref>

To secure the necessary grounds for the elaborate plans for Vaux-le-Vicomte's garden and castle, Fouquet purchased and demolished three villages. The displaced villagers were then employed in the upkeep and maintenance of the gardens. It was said to have employed 18 thousand workers and cost as much as 16 million [[French livre|livres]].<ref name="gardenvisit.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/library_online_ebooks/ml_gothein_history_garden_art_design/the_garden_vaux_le_vicomte|title=Vaux le Vicomte's and Baroque garden design|access-date=14 December 2015}}</ref>

The château and its patron became for a short time a focus for fine feasts, literature and arts. The [[fabulist]] and poet [[Jean de La Fontaine]] and the playwright [[Molière]] were among the artists close to Fouquet. At the inauguration of Vaux-le-Vicomte, a Molière play was performed, along with a dinner event organized by [[François Vatel]] and an impressive firework show.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pYQPAAAAYAAJ&dq=Vaux-le-Vicomte&pg=PA71 Ernest C. Peixottop, ''Through the French Provinces'', p. 73]</ref>

===Fête and arrest===
[[File:Jean-Baptiste Colbert - Nanteuil 01.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|Colbert}}]]

The château was lavish, refined and dazzling to behold, but those characteristics proved tragic for its owner: the king had Fouquet arrested shortly after a famous [[fête]] that took place on 17 August 1661, where [[Molière]]'s play 'Les Fâcheux' debuted.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4247AAAAIAAJ&dq=Vaux-le-Vicomte&pg=PA43 William Driver Howarth, ''Molière, a Playwright and His Audience'', p. 43]</ref> The celebration had been too impressive and the superintendent's home too luxurious. Fouquet's intentions were to flatter the king: part of Vaux-le-Vicomte was actually constructed specifically for the king, but Fouquet's plan backfired. [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] led the king to believe that his minister's magnificence was funded by the misappropriation of public funds. Colbert, who then replaced Fouquet as superintendent of finances, arrested him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/decouvrir/the-history/nicolas-fouquet/|title=Nicolas Fouquet|work=Vaux le Vicomte|access-date=14 December 2015}}</ref> Later, [[Voltaire]] was to sum up the famous fête: "On 17 August, at six in the evening Fouquet was the King of France: at two in the morning he was nobody." La Fontaine wrote describing the fête and shortly afterwards penned his ''Elégie aux nymphes de Vaux''.

===After Fouquet===
After Fouquet was arrested and imprisoned for life and his wife exiled, Vaux-le-Vicomte was placed under [[sequestration (law)|sequestration]]. The king seized, confiscated or purchased 120 tapestries, the statues and all the orange trees from Vaux-le-Vicomte. He then sent the team of artists (Le Vau, Le Nôtre and Le Brun) to design what would be a much larger project than Vaux-le-Vicomte, the palace and gardens of [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]].

Madame Fouquet recovered her property 10 years later and retired there with her eldest son. In 1705, after the death of her husband and son, she decided to put Vaux-le-Vicomte up for sale.<ref name="vaux-le-vicomte.com"/>

===Recent history===
[[File:Vaux-le-Vicomte Front2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Rhythmic massing of the entrance front]]
[[File:Vaux le vicomte 1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|View of the garden front]]

Marshal [[Claude Louis Hector de Villars]] became the new owner without first seeing the château. In 1764, the Marshal's son sold the estate to the [[César Gabriel de Choiseul|Duke of Praslin]], whose descendants maintained the property for over a century. It is sometimes mistakenly reported that the château was the scene of a murder in 1847, when [[Charles de Choiseul-Praslin]] killed his wife in her bedroom. He did so at their Paris residence, rather than at Vaux-le-Vicomte.<ref name="vaux-le-vicomte.com"/>

In 1875, after thirty years of neglect, the estate was sold to {{Interlanguage link|Alfred Sommier|lt=|fr||WD=}} in a [[public auction]]. "He came for the [Charles] Le Brun paintings, especially those on the ceiling of the Chambre des Muses – he loved art," according to descendant Alexandre de Vogüé.<ref name="Sotheby's">{{cite web |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/before-versailles-there-was-vaux-le-vicomte|title=Before Versailles, There Was Vaux-le-Vicomte|publisher=Sotheby's|access-date=25 December 2018}}</ref> The château was empty, some of the outbuildings had fallen into ruin and the gardens were completely overgrown. Restoration and refurbishment began under the direction of the architect [[Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur]], assisted by the landscape architect [[Elie Lainé]]. When Sommier died in 1908, the château and the gardens had recovered their original appearance. His son, [[Edme Sommier]], and his daughter-in-law completed the task. His descendants continue to preserve the château, which remains privately owned.

Since 1967, the owner has been Patrice de Vogüé, Alfred Sommier's great-grandson, who received it as a wedding present,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/decouvrir/the-history/the-next-generation/|title=THE NEXT GENERATION|publisher=Vaux-le-Vicomte |access-date=25 December 2018}}</ref> with his wife Cristina, the Count and Countess de Vogüé. By that time, the estate contained only a few pieces that had originally been owned by Fouquet.<ref name="France Today">{{cite web |url=https://www.francetoday.com/culture/chateau-de-vaux-le-vicomte/|title=My Home is My Castle: Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, Outside Paris|publisher=France Today|access-date=25 December 2018}}</ref> For some time, the family occupied the first floor, and then the refurbished stables, of this largest private château in France with its 1,235 acres of gardens.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/le-joli-business-du-chateau-de-vaux-le-vicomte-1112431|title=LE JOLI BUSINESS DU CHÂTEAU DE VAUX-LE-VICOMTE|publisher=Capital France |access-date=25 December 2018}}</ref><ref name="France Today"/>

In 1968, the property was opened for public tours. A major restoration was completed starting in 1976 and it was continuing in 2017; the roof repair alone took six years. The Baroque ceiling in the Chambre des Muses, "decorated by [[Charles Le Brun]]'s workshop",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/the-renaissance-of-the-salon-muses/|title=THE RENAISSANCE OF THE SALON DES MUSES|publisher=Vaux-le-Vicomte|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref> was restored in 2016–2017 and was first shown to the public in March 2017. The business is now administered by their three sons: Alexandre, Jean-Charles and Ascanio de Vogüé.<ref>« ''In memoriam'' : Patrice de Vogüé » in ''Hallier, L'Homme debout'', [[Jean-Pierre Thiollet]], Neva Editions, 2020, p. 285-289. {{ISBN|978-23-50552-17-0}}</ref> "We don’t care about the aristocratic part of this life," said Alexandre de Vogüé, but they are determined to continue the preservation.<ref name="Sotheby's"/> "We have a ten-year plan, detailing what to do and when; a plan that includes a project of infrastructure restoration, restoration of the garden, and smaller projects; all with anticipated costs next to it. We make this list public for our donors, and people can sponsor a special project, such as restoring a statue in the garden," Alexandre told a reporter in 2017.<ref name="France Today"/>

Approximately 300,000 visitors arrive each year, 75% of them from France. Recognized by the state as a ''[[monument historique]]'', the property is open most of the year, but closed for approximately two months in winter, 6 January to 22 March in 2019, for example. During the Christmas season, major decorations are installed: 150 trees, 10,000 items and 4,000 metres of garlands and lights, as well as a giant illuminated squirrel and angel, in 2018.<ref>{{cite news|title=A festive outing to a fairytale French château: a day at Vaux-le-Vicomte|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/dec/23/famiily-festive-outing-fairytale-french-chateau-chateau-vaux-le-vicomte |access-date=25 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/decouvrir/the-history/three-centuries-of-history/|title=THREE CENTURIES OF HISTORY|publisher=chateaux-france.com |access-date=25 December 2018}}</ref>