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Details
COLBERT, Jean-Baptiste (1619-1683). Autograph manuscript, 'Projet pour un feu dans lisle de l'estang de Versailles', n.p., n.d. (after 1664), ¾ page, folio (folded back at foot, lightly spotted mostly near edges, traces of guard on verso), with an engraved portrait.
FIREWORKS AT VERSAILLES: A memorandum of requirements for a display of fireworks on the island in the lake at Versailles (now known as the 'Pièce d'eau des Suisses'), giving the quantities for rocket wheels, zigzagging rockets and other specialities, and for various constructions. 'Il faut que toute lisle soit environnée d'une balustrade ... Il faut que du bord de lisle du costé de la pompe il soit vue la nape de feu, qu'il sorte des bords comme des ballons qui remplissent l'air de feu a huit ou dix toises ... dans l'isle il faut un eschafaut ou l'on pourra mettre quelque figure qui soit asses grande pour estre vue de la pompe'. Between the island and the edge of the lake there must be small boats or rafts in sufficient quantity for all the water between the three fires to be covered with fire, and so that the explosions of gunpowder make a sound like artillery -- 'un bruit egal a celuy de l'art[ille]rie'.
The Pièce d'eau des Suisses, approximately 700 metres long, lies to the South of the Orangerie. The first octagonal basin was dug by the Swiss Guards in 1664, and it was extended to its present form in 1682. Bernini's equestrian statue of Louis XIV completes the view. Colbert, Louis XIV's great minister of finance, reformer and organiser, nicknamed by Madame de Sévigné 'Le Nord' on account of his severe demeanour, was involved in all aspects of his master's life, including the arrangements for entertainments at Versailles. The use of fireworks in displays was until the end of the following century in the hands of military specialists. (2)
FIREWORKS AT VERSAILLES: A memorandum of requirements for a display of fireworks on the island in the lake at Versailles (now known as the 'Pièce d'eau des Suisses'), giving the quantities for rocket wheels, zigzagging rockets and other specialities, and for various constructions. 'Il faut que toute lisle soit environnée d'une balustrade ... Il faut que du bord de lisle du costé de la pompe il soit vue la nape de feu, qu'il sorte des bords comme des ballons qui remplissent l'air de feu a huit ou dix toises ... dans l'isle il faut un eschafaut ou l'on pourra mettre quelque figure qui soit asses grande pour estre vue de la pompe'. Between the island and the edge of the lake there must be small boats or rafts in sufficient quantity for all the water between the three fires to be covered with fire, and so that the explosions of gunpowder make a sound like artillery -- 'un bruit egal a celuy de l'art[ille]rie'.
The Pièce d'eau des Suisses, approximately 700 metres long, lies to the South of the Orangerie. The first octagonal basin was dug by the Swiss Guards in 1664, and it was extended to its present form in 1682. Bernini's equestrian statue of Louis XIV completes the view. Colbert, Louis XIV's great minister of finance, reformer and organiser, nicknamed by Madame de Sévigné 'Le Nord' on account of his severe demeanour, was involved in all aspects of his master's life, including the arrangements for entertainments at Versailles. The use of fireworks in displays was until the end of the following century in the hands of military specialists. (2)
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