BELLAS ARTES

This comprehensive monograph is an exclusive look inside the château that inspired the design of Versailles and today continues to enchant visitors and film directors alike. Vaux-le-Vicomte’s rich history began in 1641 when infamous French finance minister Nicolas Fouquet, the original owner, surrounded himself with the most skilled and talented artisans of the time: the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun, and the garden designer André Le Nôtre, to create a perfect harmony between architecture and landscape. The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and its spectacular gardens fascinated Louis XIV and were the inspira­tion for Versailles. Classified as a historical monument since 1875 under the impetus of the owner at the time, the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte quickly became a model of the artistic genius of the seventeenth century. This volume traces the château’s history from the seventeenth century through the Belle Époque, World War I, and its public opening in 1968. Exclu­sive photography and archival documents offer unprecedented access to the château, furnishings, and gardens, and illuminate the extraordinary secrets of court life and centuries of celebrations that include the enchanting candlelit tours held today.

Renowned interior designer and tastemaker Charlotte Moss celebrates flowers and offers endless inspiration in their use as glorious additions to decorating, entertaining, and everyday living. Charlotte Moss encourages readers to bring the garden indoors--with ideas for arranging flowers, selecting containers, and placing blossoms around the house. An inviting cluster of blooms on a guest room's bedside table, lavish floral displays for parties and holidays, single stems adding life to any corner of a room--Moss has been photographing her flower arrangements for over a decade. This book is a celebration of her artistry and a testament to flowers as part of day-to-day life. From Moss's grander displays in the city to her more informal and breezy creations at her home in the country, as well as in the refined interiors of her clients, the visual result is a chronicle of the myriad ways flowers provide inspiration--indoors and out. Readers will be further motivated as Moss describes the contributions of past tastemakers: Gloria Vanderbilt for her ingenious use of floral patterns in her licensed products, Pauline de Rothschild for her fantastic tablescapes, Bunny Mellon for her profusive use of topiaries, Constance Spry for the use of inventive containers and for her groundbreaking artistry, and Lady Bird Johnson for her embrace of the simple, exquisite wildflower. With nature as her muse, Moss implores us to create the backdrop for a life well lived, imbuing every day with flair, beauty, and elegance.

This book will represent one of the most effective and extravagant visions of architecture, one that links the new generations and the old world. In the past few years, Mexico has brought to light a new generation of architects whose extraordinary vision and productivity has positioned the country among the most creative design cultures of the world. Under his own firm FR-EE, since 2000 Fernando Romero has designed and created a number of projects which represent a new vision of Mexican and world architecture. Romero's approach to architecture is innovative and an inspirational tool for empowering future generations. The volume will focus on three themes that intertwine throughout the content of the book. On-site photographs (mainly aerial views) highlight the different places where FR-EE works, from urban centers to the desert. The location is what drives FR-EE's creative work, while the practice strives to investigate the dynamic forces of each site and client. Inspirational photographs give the reader a vision of how Romero's perspective shifts between different focuses of references, and reimagines them in new symbolic visions of the world (from monuments to colors, from natural elements to animals). The images include renderings, photographs, diagrams, plans, and sections. The projects are presented in situ and through architectural drawings, so as to explain the projects' concepts and contents.