THE GARDNER'S NEW CLOTHES

Here's another example of how the École d'Art Mural de Versailles has spruced up numerous utility boxes around town. This box has been dissimulated by a trompe l'oeil of a poster after Nicolas de Larmessin's Habit de Jardiner. A prolific engraver, de Larmessin created  fantastical series of engravings featuring grostesque costumes for various professions during the early 18th century. The majority of the trompes l'oeil are to be found on utility boxes on four major streets in Versailles, each according to a theme: on Avenue de Sceaux it's parks and gardens; on Aveunue de Paris it's baroque music; on Avenue de Saint-Cloud it's Molière; and on Boulevard de la Reine it's the fables of Jean de la Fontaine.

Vocabulary

un habit:  an outfit

les habits:  clothes

Expression

L'habit ne fait pas le moine. This literally means "the outfit doesn't make the monk," and is used to convey a meaning similar to the English expression, "don't judge a book by its cover."

Want to see more?

Versailles Beautiful

Slowly but Surely

Snack Time

©2014 P.B. Lecron

SHORTCUT

There's more in the city of Versailles to explore than the palace and its grounds--like the city's several charming 18th-century shortcuts connecting edifices, squares, and commercial districts. This one has been glorified by the École d'Art Mural de Versailles with a very nice rendering, in a trompe l'oeil frame, of the baraques which were built around public squares. It leads from the Carrés Saint-Louis, with its restaurants, shops, and abodes, to the Cathédrale Saint-Louis. The baraques are all still standing and vital to the Saint-Louis quarter. Most of them have been meticulously restored.

The shortcut

Vocabulary
un raccourci:  a shortcut
un passage:  a pedestrian walkway
un carré:  a square

©2014 P.B. Lecron