Château de Méréville
Encyclopedia
The Château de Méréville is a chateau in Méréville
in the valley of the Juine
, France
. It is the rival of the Désert de Retz
as two of the most extensive Landscape Garden
s provided with follies
and picturesque features — parcs à fabriques — made in the late eighteenth century. Both are early examples of the romantic French Landscape Garden
— jardin a l'anglaise — an interpretation of the English garden
style that was replacing the Garden à la française
. the Château de Méréville and garden park survives, partially dismantled.
s
, one of the richest financiers of the Ancien Régime, after his neighbours gave him the chance to do so. On this marshy land he decided to rebuild the château and create a large landscape park to his own taste. To this end he commissioned major artists such as Bélanger
(famous in this decade for having constructed Bagatelle
in only two months for the comte d'Artois), the famous cabinetmaker Leleu, the sculptor Augustin Pajou
and the painter Claude Joseph Vernet.
In 1786, after the new pont des roches (a two-level bridge over the Juine
) subsided, and Bélanger's plans were threatening to prove too expensive even for the marquis (he habitually spent without keeping count of spending, which as a sensible administrator the marquis could not accept). Bélanger was thus sacked as chief architect in May that year and replaced by Hubert Robert
(who had left the prestigious French School in Rome and was already known as the ruins-painter or "Robert-les-ruines"), though Bélanger remained onsite for the construction of the circular temple of filial piety (built in honour of the marquis' daughter Natalie, containing a marble bust of her by Augustin Pajou
).
The following year, 1787, in some of the most exceptional hydrographic work of the period, the re-routing of the Juine took a long time to achieve. Next, an entirely new type of structure was built on a small island in the centre of the main lake - a rostral column
, in honour of the marquis' two young sons Edouard
(1762-1786) and Ange Auguste
(1766-1786), news of whose disappearance had arrived in France earlier that year. They had died young at sea in Lituya Bay
during the La Pérouse
expedition.
The park is in the marquis' own image, showing his admiration for navigation and discovery (not only the rostral column, but also the cenotaph
in honour of the Englishman Captain Cook
, are the most obvious indicators of this), his love of nature and beautiful plants (linked to exploration in this era of botany and classification - the park is stuffed with rare imported species, acclimatised to their new habitat by the rich soil of the Méréville valley), and his memory of his youth in the Basque
and the mountainous Pyrénées (a rocky waterfall, spiral staircases down into grottoes, and dénivellés). It also shows off his riches, with bridges "aux boules d'or" (with gold spheres), grottoes adorned with thousands of pieces of gold leaf or precious and semi-precious stones, and above all a pebble-paved road which gives the park such a great cachet.
The construction took ten years and nearly 700 workers, of which a large majority were specialist craftsmen. Robert transformed into a landscape of open meadow and belts of trees contained within a wide bowl, which became dotted with eye-catching features with a few years. Chateaubriand called the result an oasis. In its return to nature or at least to the illusion of nature (the ruined bridge, and the facts that the trees were all planted in positions intended to surprise the visitor and the caves were all man-made), the park's style can be described as Romantic
, though it also contains elements of "anglo-chinois"
(the belvédère
).
See
Méréville, Essonne
Méréville is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It contains the Château de Méréville, with its famous 1786 landscape park.Inhabitants of Méréville are known as Mérévillois.-Geography:...
in the valley of the Juine
Juine
The Juine is a 53-kilometre-long French river. It is a tributary off the left bank of the Essonne River.Its source is in Loiret, in the forest of Chambaudoin, less than 3 km south-west from Autruy-sur-Juine...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It is the rival of the Désert de Retz
Désert de Retz
The Désert de Retz is an Anglo-Chinois or French landscape garden - created on the edge of the forêt de Marly in the commune of Chambourcy, in north-central France. It was built at the end of the 18th century by the aristocrat François Racine de Monville on his estate...
as two of the most extensive Landscape Garden
Landscape garden
The term landscape garden is often used to describe the English garden design style characteristic of the eighteenth century, that swept the Continent replacing the formal Renaissance garden and Garden à la française models. The work of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is particularly influential.The...
s provided with follies
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
and picturesque features — parcs à fabriques — made in the late eighteenth century. Both are early examples of the romantic French Landscape Garden
French landscape garden
The French landscape garden is a style of garden inspired by idealized Italian landscapes and the romantic paintings of Hubert Robert, Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, European ideas about Chinese gardens, and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau...
— jardin a l'anglaise — an interpretation of the English garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
style that was replacing the Garden à la française
Garden à la française
The French formal garden, also called jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le...
. the Château de Méréville and garden park survives, partially dismantled.
Up to 1786
The château was first built as a medieval fortress, and then rebuilt on the medieval buildings' remains in 1768 for the conseiller du roi Jean Delpech. The 1768 phase was provided with modest formal gardens formed as regular parterreParterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
s
1786-1796
The château and its park in the French gardening style were bought in 1784 as the last of his country houses by the financier Jean-Joseph de LabordeJean-Joseph de Laborde
- Biography:Laborde was born near Jaca in Aragon, into a modest béarnaise family. When he reached adolescence he joined his uncle, who was head of a maritime import-export company at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and took over as head of the business on the cousin's death...
, one of the richest financiers of the Ancien Régime, after his neighbours gave him the chance to do so. On this marshy land he decided to rebuild the château and create a large landscape park to his own taste. To this end he commissioned major artists such as Bélanger
François-Joseph Bélanger
François-Joseph Bélanger was a French architect and decorator working in the Neoclassic style.Born in Paris, he studied at the Académie Royale d'Architecture where he worked under Julien-David Le Roy and Pierre Contant d'Ivry, but did not win the coveted Prix de Rome that would have sent him to...
(famous in this decade for having constructed Bagatelle
Bagatelle
Bagatelle is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past wooden pins into holes...
in only two months for the comte d'Artois), the famous cabinetmaker Leleu, the sculptor Augustin Pajou
Augustin Pajou
Augustin Pajou was a French sculptor, born in Paris. At eighteen he won the Prix de Rome, and at thirty exhibited his Pluton tenant Cerbère enchaîné .-Selected works:...
and the painter Claude Joseph Vernet.
In 1786, after the new pont des roches (a two-level bridge over the Juine
Juine
The Juine is a 53-kilometre-long French river. It is a tributary off the left bank of the Essonne River.Its source is in Loiret, in the forest of Chambaudoin, less than 3 km south-west from Autruy-sur-Juine...
) subsided, and Bélanger's plans were threatening to prove too expensive even for the marquis (he habitually spent without keeping count of spending, which as a sensible administrator the marquis could not accept). Bélanger was thus sacked as chief architect in May that year and replaced by Hubert Robert
Hubert Robert
Hubert Robert , French artist, was born in Paris.His father, Nicolas Robert, was in the service of François-Joseph de Choiseul, marquis de Stainville a leading diplomat from Lorraine...
(who had left the prestigious French School in Rome and was already known as the ruins-painter or "Robert-les-ruines"), though Bélanger remained onsite for the construction of the circular temple of filial piety (built in honour of the marquis' daughter Natalie, containing a marble bust of her by Augustin Pajou
Augustin Pajou
Augustin Pajou was a French sculptor, born in Paris. At eighteen he won the Prix de Rome, and at thirty exhibited his Pluton tenant Cerbère enchaîné .-Selected works:...
).
The following year, 1787, in some of the most exceptional hydrographic work of the period, the re-routing of the Juine took a long time to achieve. Next, an entirely new type of structure was built on a small island in the centre of the main lake - a rostral column
Rostral column
A rostral column is a type of victory column, originating in ancient Greece and Rome where they were erected to commemorate a naval military victory. Traditionally, rostra — the prows or rams of captured ships — were mounted on the columns...
, in honour of the marquis' two young sons Edouard
Édouard Jean Joseph de Laborde de Marchainville
Édouard Jean Joseph de Laborde de Marchainville was a French explorer and naval officer.- Life :...
(1762-1786) and Ange Auguste
Ange Auguste Joseph de Laborde de Boutervilliers
Ange Auguste Joseph de Laborde de Marchainville was a French explorer....
(1766-1786), news of whose disappearance had arrived in France earlier that year. They had died young at sea in Lituya Bay
Lituya Bay
Lituya Bay is a fjord located on the coast of the Southeast part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is long and wide at its widest point. The bay was noted in 1786 by Jean-François de La Pérouse, who named it Port des Français...
during the La Pérouse
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...
expedition.
The park is in the marquis' own image, showing his admiration for navigation and discovery (not only the rostral column, but also the cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
in honour of the Englishman Captain Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
, are the most obvious indicators of this), his love of nature and beautiful plants (linked to exploration in this era of botany and classification - the park is stuffed with rare imported species, acclimatised to their new habitat by the rich soil of the Méréville valley), and his memory of his youth in the Basque
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
and the mountainous Pyrénées (a rocky waterfall, spiral staircases down into grottoes, and dénivellés). It also shows off his riches, with bridges "aux boules d'or" (with gold spheres), grottoes adorned with thousands of pieces of gold leaf or precious and semi-precious stones, and above all a pebble-paved road which gives the park such a great cachet.
The construction took ten years and nearly 700 workers, of which a large majority were specialist craftsmen. Robert transformed into a landscape of open meadow and belts of trees contained within a wide bowl, which became dotted with eye-catching features with a few years. Chateaubriand called the result an oasis. In its return to nature or at least to the illusion of nature (the ruined bridge, and the facts that the trees were all planted in positions intended to surprise the visitor and the caves were all man-made), the park's style can be described as Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, though it also contains elements of "anglo-chinois"
Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie, a French term, signifying "Chinese-esque", and pronounced ) refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences...
(the belvédère
Gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...
).
See
- French landscape gardenFrench landscape gardenThe French landscape garden is a style of garden inspired by idealized Italian landscapes and the romantic paintings of Hubert Robert, Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, European ideas about Chinese gardens, and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau...
- Landscape design history of France
- Remarkable Gardens of France