18C Benjamin Franklin writes of visiting Versailles

1767 David Martin (1737-1797) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) in France

Benjamin Franklin wrote of Versailles to his daughter Polly on September 14, 1767:

"Versailles has had infinite Sums laid out in Building it and Supplying it with Water: Some say the Expence exceeded 80 Millions Sterling. The Range of Building is immense, the Garden Front most magnificent all of hewn Stone, the Number of Statues, Figures, Urns, &c in Marble and Bronze of exquisite Workmanship is beyond Conception.

"But the Waterworks are out of Repair, and so is great Part of the Front next the Town, looking with its shabby half Brick Walls and broken Windows not much better than the Houses in Durham Yard.

"There is, in short, both at Versailles and Paris, a prodigious Mixture of Magnificence and Negligence, with every kind of Elegance except that of Cleanliness, and what we call Tidyness."

1668 Pierre Patel (French artist, 1605-1676) Versailles

Garden façade of the Palace of Versailles, c 1675. Shown is the terrace that was later to become part of the Hall of Mirrors.

Promenade de Louis XIV en vue du Parterre du Nord dans les jardins de Versailles by Étienne Allegrain (1644-1736) in 1693 

View of the Château de Versailles as seen from the Place d'Armes, c 1722, by Pierre-Denis Martin. This was how Versailles looked at the end of Louis XIV's 4th building campaign.