Impressive sets for the Sun King as only Hollywood could imagine it. Repeat viewing of the film Vatel is one of my guilty pleasures. I’ve referred to it once before on my blog, but this time I would like to focus on the elaborate sets designed, as imagined by Hollywood, to entertain Louis XIV and win his favor during an historical event in 1671. I feel confident that nothing as elaborate as these sets in the film were ever created for those three days of revelry, but they are still fun to look at. The historical genius behind the festivities was François Vatel, who was the Master of Festivities and Pleasures in Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé’s household. You see, it was the Prince who desperately needed to win over the sun king, hoping for a commission as a general and an end to his financial struggles. Vatel was already renowned for having served Louis XIV’s superintendent Nicolas Fouquet in the splendid inauguration fête at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte ten years earlier, but that occasion lead to the unfortunate Fouquet’s downfall.
