The importance of marble in architecture and in interior decoration under Louis XIV is well known, but the origin of this style has not yet been studied. It can be dated with precision between 1662 and 1663 by analyzing an unpublished memorandum by Louis Le Vau and comparing it with several of the architect's drawings, as well as with different contracts passed with the marble merchant Le Grue. The personal role played by Le Vau appears in all its originality, from the point of view of the history of taste, as well as that of the art of building, within the framework of the "Roman times" that French arts were experiencing in the beginning of the personal reign of Louis XIV. The initiatives taken by Le Vau in the Louvre, the College Mazarin and Versailles are studied successively and their unequal success is evaluated with regard to the interests then implicated in French architecture, highlighting the decisive tension between the City and the convenience of the Court, between the taste of amateurs and the taste of the king.
