ORNAMENTAL WOODCARVER Patrick Damiaens: The COTELLE Gallery of the Great Trianon in the garden of Versailles | Gilded frame with garlands

The COTELLE Gallery of the Great Trianon in the garden of Versailles

The Great Trianon floor plan

The COTELLE Gallery

The Great Trianon in the garden of Versailles

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The Great Trianon (Le Grand Trianon) is a large pleasure pavilion in the castle garden of Versailles, named after a former hamlet Trianon. The ceremonial customs forced the king to share even the most intimate matters with the court - from getting up in the morning (liver) to going to bed in the evening (coucher).

The royal desire for a little privacy resulted in the construction of two pleasure castles in the park: on the one hand, the graceful Grand Trianon, built in 1687 in Italian style by Jules Mansart and consisting of two wings connected by a pink marble colonnade and, on the other hand, the Cotelle Gallery, built at right angles to the right wing.

The Cotelle Gallery ( The Great Trianon Versailles )

This long and cleverly placed gallery protects the ground floor flower beds of the Grand Trianon against the worst winter weather. The gallery has eleven windows along the full length of the building facing south and only five on the north side.

The gallery is decorated with 24 paintings - of which 21 by Jean Cotelle, hence the name - depicting the forestquet of Versailles and Le Trianon as they were when these canvases were painted in 1687.

They provide a valuable insight into the layout of the gardens when they were first laid out in the seventeenth century. The niches in this gallery originally contained benches, which Louis-Philippe had replaced with two Languedoc marble basins from the Louis XV collections.

Under each painting there is an elegant console in (? Empire style).

The COTELLE Gallery of the Great Trianon in the garden of Versailles |

Gilded frame with garlands

Normally, this gallery is not accessible to the public, only the first two metres of the gallery are open to the public, and within these two metres, bounded by a thick rope, this part of the Cotelle Gallery is also the end of your visit to the Grand Trianon in Versailles.

What's so special about this gallery?

When I first came here many, many years ago, I had already noticed that around these 24 paintings there were special beautiful gilded frames, and in particular the lower part.

A central shell motif with a beautiful gilded garland of flowers. I had already photographed the two frames in the section accessible to the visitor a number of times. From a distance I could recognize that these super beautiful garlands of flowers could all be different. A source of inspiration for the woodcarver, I thought. But I couldn't take pictures, it was a pity.

In 2014 there was a temporary exhibition in this gallery but due to the arrangement it was unfortunately not possible to photograph these 'other' gilded flowers garlands.

July 26, 2019, there was again a temporary exhibition (modern art) with this time a constellation in the center of the gallery.

Talk about happiness! Photos could be taken of the designs and combinations of the gilded garlands to your heart's content. The imagination of these woodcarvers must have been enormous to draw and create all these combinations of flowers in wood.

Probably the frames are made of soft wood although I'm not sure, but from the damage of the gilding I saw a kind of wood of light hue appear. I'll let you enjoy the craftsmanship, imagination and combinations of the garlands of flowers. Hopefully it will be a source of inspiration for you.