The Petite Commande of 1664: Burlesque in the Gardens of Versailles

Burlesque, one of the most fashionable literary genres in seventeenth-century France, aimed to amuse the informed reader by poking fun at lofty material from the past, especially the "Aeneid". It is argued here that a playfully irreverent burlesque attack on the canons of ancient and Italian art was carried out in the gardens of Versailles by a group of eight statues of satyrs and nymphs, and that Charles and Claude Perrault, the authors of several burlesque "epics," were the wits behind the program. The conceit has broad implications for our understanding of Louis XIV's Versailles.