Louis Le Vau

French architect

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June 30, 2026

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Louis Le Vau was a prominent French architect of the Baroque era. He is renowned for his design of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, a masterpiece of French residential architecture completed in 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's finance minister. This château, with its interior decoration supervised by Charles Le Brun and gardens designed by André Le Nôtre, is considered by many critics to be more ingenious than the later Palace of Versailles. Following Fouquet's arrest, Le Vau, Le Brun, and Le Nôtre were brought into royal service for projects like Versailles.1

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France
French culture in the 17th century
Mazarin also commissioned Louis Le Vau to rebuild part of the medieval castle of Vincennes, thus setting him off on his successful career.
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Mazarin also commissioned Louis Le Vau to rebuild part of the medieval castle of Vincennes, thus setting him off on his successful career.
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Tuileries Palace
Louis Le Vau, in the 17th century, also contributed to the structure. In the gardens that survive, an arch from Delorme’s loggia was rebuilt; it is an example of his French Ionic order.
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Louis Le Vau, in the 17th century, also contributed to the structure. In the gardens that survive, an arch from Delorme’s loggia was rebuilt; it is an example of his French Ionic order.
Read More