Our latest book, to be published by Rizzoli in April 2023. Sumptuously illustrated with well over 60 original watercolors and copious period artwork, 280 pages, footnoted, introduced by Olivier de Rohan Chabot. This large-format hardcover is subtitled “Pavilions and Follies of the Ancien Régime” and is a companion volume to our first book, Pleasure Pavilions and Follies. The text surveys the society of the Ancien Regime with expansiveness and rare grace and wit.
English and French editions, limited to 500 signed and numbered copies
In my homes, in the homes of some of my clients, and in my office reside the delicate, exquisitely expressive and precise silhouettes of pavilions, pagodas and pergolas. In a style of illustration that draws the eye to every detail of the subject as it floats on a crisp white ground, their technique is uniquely their own, as there is no one I know who can claim this method today—one reminiscent of the great florilegia of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
—Charlotte Moss, from her preface
These watercolors, of an exceptional finesse, are found in the most prestigious public and private collections in Europe and the United States.
—Le Figaro Litteraire
Like pinned butterflies, each finely rendered specimen floats vulnerably on the page, completely decontextualized.
—I.D.
English and French editions, limited to 400 signed and numbered copies
The immense artistic—and I dare say, intellectual—value of the œuvre of MM. Zega and Dams has always dazzled me. After serious reflection, I must say that I am also very impressed by the text that accompanies Versailles. Being myself a historian of the 17th and 18th centuries, and having enormously meditated on that period, I must note the abiding impression of complete innovation that struck me… when reading the immensely rich introduction to this great and magnificent work.
—Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Director Emeritus, La Bibliothèque Nationale de France
English and French editions, limited to 300 signed and numbered copies
…it is a joy to be able to admire afresh the conception of their work and its particular elegance. These precious documents retrace an epoch when taste, extravagance and a sense of fantasy were an essential part of the way in which parks and gardens were embellished, by perfectly inscribing them in nature, then furnishing them with dreams. The continuing research of these two great artists enchants me as much as the perfection of their precious drawings.
—Hubert de Givenchy, from his preface
…the pleasure of the book is not only in the lightness with which it wears its considerable scholarship, but in the liveliness with which the personalities of Versailles’ creators is rendered. Accessible for the amateur, revelatory for the expert, Palaces of the Sun King is, no less than the buildings it describes, a dazzling delight.
—The Art Newspaper
Sir! I hate urns! Would they were beaten to pieces to pave our streets!
—Dr. Samuel Johnson
The authors have done—one must stress—a remarkable work of research. Their culture is immense and abundant, permitting them not only to evoke these charming constructions, but also their commissioners, their builders and their users.
—Un Livre Un Jour, France 3 Television
