The 48 Laws Of Power

I 84 LAW 24

SceneIII

Early

inhis

career,

theFrencharchitect

Jules

Mansartreceivedcommis-

sionsto

design

minoradditionstoVersaillesfor

King

LouisXIV.Foreach

design

hewoulddraw

up

his

plans,making

sure

they

followedLouis’sin-

structions

closely.

He

wouldthen

present

themtoHis

Majesty.

ThecourtierSaint-Simon

describedMansaIt’s

technique

in

dealing

withthe

king:

“His

particular

skillwastoshowthe

king

plans

that

pur»

posely

included

somethingimperfect

about

them,

often

dealing

withthe

gardens,

whichwerenotMansart’s

specialty.

The

king,

asMansartex-

pected,

would

put

his

fingerexactly

onthe

problem

and

propose

howto

solve

it,

atwhich

point

Mansartwouldexclaimforalltohearthathewould

neverhaveseenthe

problem

thatthe

king

hadso

masterfully

foundand

solved;

hewouldburstwith

admiration,

confessing

thatnexttothe

king

he

wasbuta

lowlypupil.”

Atthe

age

of

thirty,having

usedthesemethods

timeandtime

again,

Mansartreceiveda

prestigiousroyal

commission:Al:

though

hewaslesstalentedand

experienced

than anumber

of

other

French

designers,

hewastotake

charge

ofthe

enlargement

ofVersailles.

Hewasthe

king’s

architectfromthenon.

Interpretation

Asa

young

man,

Mansart

hadseenhow

manyroyal

craftsmen

in

thesen

vice

ofLouis

XIVhadlosttheir

positions

not

through

a

lack

of

talentbut

through

a

costly

socialblunder.Hewouldnotmakethatmistake.Mansart

always

strovetomakeLouisfeelbetterabout

himself,

tofeedthe

king’s

vanity

as

publicly

as

possible.

Never

imagine

thatskillandtalentareallthatmatter.Incourtthe

courtier’sartismore

important

thanhis

talent;

never

spend

somuchtime

on

your

studiesthat

youneglectyour

socialskills.Andthe

greatest

skillof

allisthe

ability

tomakethemasterlookmoretalentedthanthosearound

him.

SceneIV

Jean-BaptisteIsabey

hadbecometheunofficial

painter

ofthe

Napoleonic

court.

During

the

Congress

ofViennain

1814,

after

Napoleon,

defeated,

hadbeen

imprisoned

ontheislandof

Elba,

the

participants

inthesemeet-

ings,

whichweretodecidethefateof

Europe,

invited

Isabey

toimmortal-

izethehistoricevents

in

an

epicpainting.

When

Isabey

arrivedin

Vienna,

Talleyrand,

themain

negotiator

for

the

French,

paid

theartistavisit.

Considering

hisroleinthe

proceedings,

thestatesman

explained,

he

expected

to

occupy

center

stage

inthe

paint-

ing.Isabeycordiallyagreed.

Afew

days

latertheDukeof

Wellington,

the

main

negotiator

forthe

English,

also

approachedIsabey,

andsaidmuch

thesame

thing

that

Talleyrand

had.Theever

polite

Isabeyagreed

thatthe

great

dukeshould

indeed

hethecenterofattention.

Backinhis

studio,

Isabeypondered

thedilemma.Ifhe

gave

the

spot-

light

to

either

ofthetwo

men,

hecouldcreatea

diplomatic

rift,

stirringup

allsorts ofresentmentatatimewhen

peace

andconcordwerecritical.