The gardens of Versailles are perhaps the most famous in the world. Seemingly open to the horizon, their scale is monumental. Their grand east-west axis celebrates the Sun King, even as they offer an expression of the scientific spirit of the age in their geometrical layout and exploitation of the optical properties of reflecting water. The original park design, realized by Andre Le Notre, a few advisers, and Louis XIV himself author of "The Way to Present the Gardens of Versailles" remains largely intact. Yet Louis XV made his own original contribution to the gardens at the Trianon, where...