Fouquet

Fouquet was the superintendent of finances for King Louis XIV, The Sun King of France. 

Fouquest purchased the chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte and, in 1658, he commissioned King Louis XIV's architects Le Vau, Le Brun, and Le Nôtre to build him a lavish palace and grounds. 

He entertained nobles and great artists with opulent feasts. On August 17, 1661, Fouquet held an official inauguration where Molière's play Les Fâcheux was seen for the first time. 

King Louis XIV was neither flattered by the magnificent chateau (as was Fouquet's intention) nor happy about it.

Hours after the party, he had Fouquet arrested for misappropriation of public funds. Fouquet was consequently imprisoned for life, King Louis XIV confiscated art and tapestries from Vaux-le-Vicomte, and brought the three architects to Versailles where they built him a palace ten times as magnificent.

The moral of the story: don't mess with the king and certainly don't build a house on a more grandeur scale than the king!

Today, Vaux-le-Vicomte is privately owned by the Comte de Vogüé and it does welcome visitors. 

Voila! Gros bisous de taxman et a demain!

Love, Charley