Michel Jeanneret's Versailles: Order and Chaos Reappraises the Sun King's Domain

In his book "Versailles, ordre et chaos" (Gallimard), Michel Jeanneret reexamines the years 1660–1680, presenting a Versailles far from the harmonious ideal, emphasizing its dark, anxious side rooted in Ovid's Metamorphoses and the swampy terrain. He highlights lost features like the Marais d'eau, designed by Madame de Montespan and known via a Gabriel Pérelle engraving, and the 1668 feast buffet described by André Félibien. Jeanneret connects Versailles to broader cultural anxieties, citing Charles Le Brun's physiognomy drawings and the writings of La Fontaine, La Bruyère, Saint-Simon, Pascal, and Hobbes. The book argues that classical art's polished surface barely conceals chaos, a fragility echoed in Jean Deprun's "Philosophie de l'inquiétude." A simultaneous reissue of Félibien's "Les Fêtes de Versailles" (Le Promeneur) accompanies Jeanneret's study.