In the early seventeenth century, between the royal residences of Vincennes and Fontainebleau, a small castle stood at the confluence of two small rivers.
The domain was called Vaux-le-Vicomte: it was then just a place on the map and its reputation had still to be made.
In 1641 a 26 year-old parliamentarian, Nicolas Fouquet, purchased the estate.
Fifteen years later the first stone of a unique masterpiece was laid; it was to be the finest château and garden in France.
This achievement was brought about through the collaboration of three men of genius whom Fouquet had chosen for the task:
the architect Le Vau
the painter-decorator Le Brun
and the landscape gardener Le Nôtre.
The artistic and cultivated sensibility of their tri-fecta patron was a great stimulus to their significant individual talents.
They were not alone; the poet La Fontaine, Molière, playwright and actor, Madame de Sévigné, Pellisson and Scarron formed an important creative status and circle around this great patron of literature and the arts.
History: Vaux-le-Vicomte
