In this opulently illustrated volume, the eminent French architectural historian Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos traces the transformation of Louis XIII's modest hunting lodge into the fabulous château we know today as the extravagant height of the French monarchy. Robert Polidori's sublime photographs show Versailles's architecture, interiors, and gardens, from sweeping aerial views, to grandiose views of the elaborately decorated palace ceilings, to intimate photographs of the paintings and sculptures that grace the walls and gardens. The exquisite artistry of each carefully considered decorative detail reveals Versailles in all its magnificence. The photographs show all the beauty and ornate decoration of Versailles, in every season and from every possible perspective. Polidori presents quiet, warmly-lit landscapes of the gardens and pools, dramatic visions of the colonnades, and expansive views of the vast, airy, luxurious salons. The text is a scholarly study of the history of the evolving aesthetic of this remarkable palace, attesting not only to its importance as the ultimate expression of European absolutism but also to its significance as an experimental design workshop that was to become widely influential. Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (Doctor of Letters, Director of Research at CNRS, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) is the author of numerous scholarly books and articles on post-Renaissance architecture, notably Architecture à la française (1982), in which he proposes a revisionist interpretation of classical French architecture. He has worked in close collaboration with the eminent art historian André Chastel and served as director of the national inventory of French artistic treasures (L'Inventaire général des Monuments et Richesses Artistiques de la France), established by André Malraux in the mid-1960s. His work Vocabulaire de l'architecture has become a standard reference work on matters pertaining to the study and preservation of France's architectural treasures. He is currently professor at the cole du Louvre and at the Centre d'Etudes Supérieures d'Histoire et de Conservation des Monuments Historiques de Paris. Robert Polidori was born in Montreal, Canada, to a French Canadian mother and a Corsican father. He moved to the United States in 1961 when he was ten years old and in 1969 settled in New York. From 1970 to 1972 he worked as an assistant to Jonas Mekas at the Anthology Film Archives in New York and for the next six years produced a number of avant-garde films. In 1979 he received an M.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and soon thereafter turned his attention to still photography. He has been living in Paris since 1987. 392 colour illustrations