Word: xiv
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...Gobelins factory began with a burst of glory. Founded by Louis XIV's energetic Finance Minister, Colbert, in 1662, its first task was to reflect France's reigning Sun King. To keep up with his demands, 250 weavers were required, while additional shops turned out furniture, sculpture, mosaics, even locks and bolts. Presiding over all was Charles Le Brun, who gave the age its style. As first painter to the King, Le Brun decorated most of Louis' palaces, planned Versailles' garden statues and, above all, saw through to completion some of the most sumptuous tapestries ever...
Full Range. Among the first woven was Le Brun's series on The Elements, which ransacked classical mythology to celebrate the events in Louis XIV's reign. One of the most famous, L'Air, drew from the full range of the factory's 79 colors to depict, in wool, gold and silk threads, Juno, the goddess of marriage, rebuffing Boreas, the god of the north wind in Greek mythology. Courtiers understood that the real subject was Louis' marriage to Marie-Therese of Spain, which had brought to an end France's 25-year...
Bonanza Inn. Carson City, Nev. Continental cuisine. Everything cooked to order. Champignons under glass, sweetbreads, tarragon chicken, chocolate mousse. Old stone house with Louis XIV couches for cocktails and a splendid view of the High Sierras...
...Grand Trianon, a mile and a half from the vast palace of Versailles, was built as a royal hideaway. Ordered by the Sun King, Louis XIV, in 1687, it was a delight in pink and green Languedoc marble and, for all its 70 rooms, was considered intimate by a King's standards at that time. Even royal princes had to ask permission to visit. "Delicious gardens!" exclaimed that great collector of court gossip, the Duc de Saint-Simon. And in Louis XIV's day, the gardens did not stop at the doors; his mistress, Madame de Maintenon, liked...
...please Meissonier, a 19th century French academic who painted romances of gladiators and Napoleonic battles. Also from 1965's crop: Salvador Dali in the Act of Painting Gala in the Apotheosis of the Dollar in Which You Can See on the Left Marcel Duchamp Masquerading as Louis XIV Behind a Vermeerian Cur tain Which Actually Is the Invisible Face but Monumental of Hermes by Praxiteles. It covers quite a bit of art history in a style that describes Dali himself-a pastiche...