Exterior view
by GABRIEL, Ange-Jacques, Photo
The Grand Trianon was built for Louis XIV in the park of Versailles by Hardouin-Mansart in only six months in 1687-88. It is a permanent structure with an open columned hall and extended single-storey wings. His light-spirited design based on Italian models. Almost eighty years later, Louis XV ordered the building of its companion piece, the Petit Trianon for his favourite, Madame de Pompadour. Ange-Jacques Gabriel gave it a Palladian structure.
This square-shaped but decorative building has a Corinthian peristyle in front of the garden fa�ade; the whole concept was closely related to the interpretation of the Palladian villa by the British neo-Palladians.
The picture shows the courtyard fa�ade of the Petit Trianon in Versailles.