Garden à la française
Encyclopedia
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 Nôtre
. The style was widely copied by other courts of Europe.
, a style which was imported into France at the beginning of the 16th century. The Italian Renaissance garden, typified by the Boboli Gardens
in Florence and the Villa Medici in Fiesole
, was characterized by planting beds, or parterres, created in geometric shapes, and laid out symmetrical patterns; the use of fountains and cascades to animate the garden; stairways and ramps to unite different levels of the garden; grottos, labyrinth
s, and statuary on mythological themes. The gardens were designed to represent harmony and order, the ideals of the Renaissance, and to recall the virtues of Ancient Rome.
Following his campaign in Italy in 1495, where he saw the gardens and castles of Naples, King Charles VIII
brought Italian craftsmen and garden designers, such as Pacello da Mercogliano
, from Naples and ordered the construction of Italian-style gardens at his residence at the Chateau d'Amboise
. His successor Henry II
, who had also traveled to Italy and had met Leonardo DaVinci, created an Italian nearby at the Chateau de Blois
. Beginning in 1528, King Francis I of France
created new gardens at the Chateau de Fontainebleau
, which featured fountains, parterres, a forest of pine trees brought from Provence
and the first artificial grotto
in France. The Chateau de Chenonceau, had two gardens in the new style, one created for Diane de Poitiers
in 1551, and a second for Catherine de Medici in 1560.
In 1536 the architect Philibert de l'Orme
, upon his return from Rome, created the gardens of the Château d'Anet
following the Italian rules of proportion. The carefully prepared harmony of Anet, with its parterres and surfaces of water integrated with sections of greenery, became one of the earliest and most influential examples of the classic French garden.
While the gardens of the French Renaissance were much different in their spirit and appearance than those of the Middle Ages, they were still not integrated with the architecture of the chateaux, and were usually enclosed by walls. The different parts of the gardens were not harmoniously joined together, and they were often placed on difficult sites chosen for terrain easy to defend, rather than for beauty. All this was to change in the middle of the 17th century with the development of the first real Garden à la française.
, created by Nicolas Fouquet
, the superintendent of Finances to Louis XIV, beginning in 1656. Fouquet commissioned Louis Le Vau
to design the chateau, Charles LeBrun to design statues for the garden, and Andre Le Notre
to create the gardens. For the first time, that garden and the chateau were perfectly integrated. A grand perspective of 1500 meters extended from the foot of the chateau to the statue of the Hercules of Farnese; and the space was filled with parterres of evergreen shrubs in ornamental patterns, bordered by colored sand, and the alleys were decorated at regular intervals by statues, basins, fountains, and carefully sculpted topiaries. "The symmetry attained at Vaux achieved a degee of perfection and unity rarely equalled in the art of classic gardens. The chateau is at the center of this strict spatial organization which symbolizes power and success."
The central symbol of the Garden was the sun; the emblem of Louis XIV, illustrated by the statue of Apollo
in the central fountain of the garden. "The views and perspectives, to and from the palace, continued to inifinity. The king ruled over nature, recreating in the garden not only his domination of his territories, but over the court and his subjects."
, sieur de la Barauderie (ca 1560–1633) the superintendent of royal gardens under Louis XIII, became the first theorist of the new French style. His book, Traité du jardinage selon les raisons de la nature et de l'art. Ensemble divers desseins de parterres, pelouzes, bosquets et autres ornements was published after his death in 1638. Its sixty engravings of designs for parterres and bosquets made it a style book for gardens, which influenced the design the Palais du Luxembourg, the Jardin des Tuileries, and the gardens of Saint Germain-en-Laye.
Claude Mollet
(ca 1564-shortly before 1649), was the chief gardener of three French Kings; Henry IV
, Louis XIII
and the young Louis XIV
. His father was head gardener at the château d'Anet
, where Italian formal gardening was introduced to France and where Claude apprenticed, and his son was André Mollet
, who took the French style to Holland, Sweden and England.
Andre Le Notre
(1613–1700) was the most important figure the history of the French garden The son of the gardener of Louis XIII, he worked on the plans of Vaux-le-Vicomte
, before becoming the chief gardener of Louis XIV between 1645 and 1700, and the designer of the Gardens of Versailles
, the greatest garden project of the age. The gardens he created became the symbols of French grandeur and rationality, setting the style for European gardens until the arrival of the English landscape park
in the 18th century.
Joseph-Antoine Dezallier d'Argenville
(1680–1765) wrote Theorie et traite de jardinage, laid out the principles of the Garden à la francaise, and included drawings and designs of gardens and parterres. It was reprinted many times, and was found in the libraries of aristocrats across Europe.
The form of the French garden was strongly influenced by the Italian gardens of the Renaissance
, and was largely fixed by the middle of the 17th century. It had the following elements, which became typical of the formal French garden:
The designers of the French garden saw their work as a branch of architecture, which simply extended the space of the building to the space outside the walls, and ordered nature according to the rules of geometry, optics and perspective. Gardens were designed like buildings, with a succession of rooms which a visitor could pass through following an established route, hallways, and vestibules with adjoining chambers. They used the language of architecture in their plans; the spaces were referred to as salles, chambres and théâtres of greenery. The "walls" were composed of hedges, and "stairways" of water. On the ground were tapis, or carpets, of grass, brodés, or embroidered, with plants, and the trees were formed into rideaux, or curtains, along the alleys.
Just as architects installed systems of water into the chateux, they laid out elaborate hydraulic systems to supply the fountains and basins of the garden. Long basins full of water replaced mirrors, and the water from fountains replaced chandeliers. In the bosquet du Marais in the gardens of Versailles, André Le Nôtre
placed tables of white and red marble for serving meals. The flowing water in the basins and fountains imitated water pouring into carafes and crystal glasses. The dominant role of architecture in the garden did not change until the 18th century, when the English garden
arrived in Europe, and the inspiration for gardens began to come not from architecture but from romantic painting.
. In 1664, Louis XIV celebrated a six-day festival in the gardens, with cavalcades, comedies, ballets, and fireworks. Gardens of Versailles included a theatre of water, decorated with fountains and statues of the infancy of the gods (destroyed between 1770 and 1780). Full-size ships were constructed for sailing on the Grand Canal, and the garden had an open-air ballroom, surrounded by trees; a water organ, a labyrinth
, and a grotto.
Another trick used by French garden designers was the Ha-ha (fr: saute-de loup). This was a method used to conceal fences which crossed long alleys or perspectives. A deep and wide trench with vertical wall of stone on one side was dug wherever a fence crossed a view, or a fence was placed in bottom of the trench, so that it was invisible to the viewer.
As gardens became more and more ambitious and elaborate through the 17th century, the garden no longer served as a decoration for the chateau; At Chantilly
and at Saint-Germain
, the chateau became a decorative element of the much larger garden.
A second development was in hydrology, bringing water to the gardens for the irrigation of the plants and for use in the many fountains. This development was not fully successful at Versailles, which was on a plateau; even with 221 pumps and a system of canals bringing water from the Seine, and the construction in 1681 of a huge pumping machine at Marly, there was still not enough water pressure for all the fountains of Versailles to be turned on at once. Fontainiers were placed along the routes of the King's promenades, and turned on the fountains at each site just before he arrived.
A related development took place in hydroplasie, the art and science of shaping water into different shapes as it came out the fountain. The shape of the water depended upon the force of the water and the shape of the nozzle. New forms created through this art were named tulipe (the tulip), double gerbe (the double sheaf),, Girandole(centerpiece) candélabre (candelabra), and corbeille (bouquet), La Boule en l'air (Ball in the air), and L'Evantail (the fan). This art was closely associated with the fireworks
of the time,, which tried to achieve similar effects with fire instead of water. Both the fountains and fireworks were often accompanied by music, and were designed to show how nature (water and fire) could be shaped by the will of man.
Another important development was in horticulture
, in the ability to raise plants from warmer climates in the northern European climate by protecting them inside buildings and bringing them outdoors in pots. The first orangerie were built in France in the 16th century following the introduction of the orange tree after the Italian Wars. The orangerie at Versailles has walls five meters thick, with a double wall that maintains temperatures in winter between 5 and 8 degrees celsius. Today it can shelter 1055 trees.
and Holland.; An important ornamental feature in Versailles and other gardens was the topiary
, a tree or bush carved into geometric or fantastic shapes, which were placed in rows along the main axes of the garden, alternating with statues and vases.
At Versailles flower beds were found only at the Trianon
and in parterres on the north side of the palace. Flowers were usually brought from Provence
, kept in pots, and changed three or four times a year. Palace records from 1686 show that the Palace used 20,050 jonquil bulbs, 23000 cyclamen
, and 1700 lily plants.
Most of the trees at Versailles were taken from the forest; they included hornbeam
, elm
, linden
, and beech
trees. There were also chestnut
trees from Turkey
and acacia
trees. Large trees were dug up from the forests of Compiègne
and Artois
and transplanted to Versailles. Many died in transplanting and had to be regularly replaced.
The trees in the park were trimmed both horizontally and flattened at the top, giving them the desired geometric form. Only in the 18th century were they allowed to grow freely.
(Seine-Saint-Denis
) for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
(1717) and at Champs (Seine-et-Marne
), and another relative, Garnier d'Isle, created gardens for Madame de Pompadour
at Crécy (Eure-et-Loire) in 1746 and Bellevue (Hauts-de-Seine
) in 1748-1750. The major inspiration for gardens continued to be architecture, rather than nature - the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel
designed elements of the gardens at Versailles, Choisy (Val-de-Marne), and Compiègne
.
Nonetheless, a few variations in the strict geometry of the garden à la française began to appear. Elaborate parterres of broderies, with their curves and counter-curves, were replaced by parterres of grass bordered with flowerbeds, which were easier to maintain. Circles became ovals, called rotules, with alleys radiating outward in the shape of an 'x', and irregular octagon shapes appeared. Gardens began to follow the natural landscape, rather than moving earth to shape the ground into artificial terraces.
In the middle of the 18th century, the influence of the new English garden
created by British aristocrats and landowners, and the popularity of the Chinese style, brought to France by Jesuit priests from the Court of the Emperor of China, a style which rejected symmetry in favor of nature and rustic scenes, brought an end to the reign of the symmetrical garden à la française. In many French parks and estates, the garden closest to the house was kept in the traditional à la française style, but the rest of the park was transformed into the new style, called variously jardin a l'anglaise (the English garden), "anglo-chinois", exotiques, or "pittoresques". This marked the end of the age of the garden à la française and the arrival in France of the Jardin Paysager, or landscape garden, which was inspired not by architecture but by painting, literature and philosophy. (See French landscape garden
.)
Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France...
. The style was widely copied by other courts of Europe.
The Italian Influence
The Garden à la francaise evolved from the Italian Renaissance gardenItalian Renaissance garden
The Italian Renaissance garden was a new style of garden which emerged in the late 15th century at villas in Rome and Florence, inspired by classical ideals of order and beauty, and intended for the pleasure of the view of the garden and the landscape beyond, for contemplation, and for the...
, a style which was imported into France at the beginning of the 16th century. The Italian Renaissance garden, typified by the Boboli Gardens
Boboli Gardens
The Boboli Gardens are a park in Florence, Italy, that is home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities.-History and layout:...
in Florence and the Villa Medici in Fiesole
Villa Medici in Fiesole
The Villa Medici is a patrician villa in Fiesole, Tuscany, Italy, the fourth oldest of the villas built by the Medici family. It was built between 1451 and 1457.-External links:*...
, was characterized by planting beds, or parterres, created in geometric shapes, and laid out symmetrical patterns; the use of fountains and cascades to animate the garden; stairways and ramps to unite different levels of the garden; grottos, labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
s, and statuary on mythological themes. The gardens were designed to represent harmony and order, the ideals of the Renaissance, and to recall the virtues of Ancient Rome.
Following his campaign in Italy in 1495, where he saw the gardens and castles of Naples, King Charles VIII
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
brought Italian craftsmen and garden designers, such as Pacello da Mercogliano
Pacello da Mercogliano
Pacello da Mercogliano was a designer of gardens and hydraulic engineer, who is documented under Charles VIII at Amboise with the responsibility of bringing water from the Loire up to the garden parterres laid out to one side of the château...
, from Naples and ordered the construction of Italian-style gardens at his residence at the Chateau d'Amboise
Château d'Amboise
The royal Château at Amboise is a château located in Amboise, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France.-Origins and royal residence:...
. His successor Henry II
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
, who had also traveled to Italy and had met Leonardo DaVinci, created an Italian nearby at the Chateau de Blois
Château de Blois
The Royal Château de Blois is located in the Loir-et-Cher département in the Loire Valley, in France, in the center of the city of Blois. The residence of several French kings, it is also the place where Joan of Arc went in 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her...
. Beginning in 1528, King Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
created new gardens at the Chateau de Fontainebleau
Château de Fontainebleau
The Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th century structure of Francis I. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards...
, which featured fountains, parterres, a forest of pine trees brought from Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
and the first artificial grotto
Grotto
A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
in France. The Chateau de Chenonceau, had two gardens in the new style, one created for Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers was a French noblewoman and a prominent courtier at the courts of kings Francis I and his son, Henry II of France. She became notorious as the latter's favourite mistress...
in 1551, and a second for Catherine de Medici in 1560.
In 1536 the architect Philibert de l'Orme
Philibert de l'Orme
Philibert DeLorme was a French architect, one of the great masters of the French Renaissance.He was born at Lyon, the son of Jean Delorme, a master mason. At an early age Philibert was sent to Italy to study and was employed there by Pope Paul III...
, upon his return from Rome, created the gardens of the Château d'Anet
Château d'Anet
The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France...
following the Italian rules of proportion. The carefully prepared harmony of Anet, with its parterres and surfaces of water integrated with sections of greenery, became one of the earliest and most influential examples of the classic French garden.
While the gardens of the French Renaissance were much different in their spirit and appearance than those of the Middle Ages, they were still not integrated with the architecture of the chateaux, and were usually enclosed by walls. The different parts of the gardens were not harmoniously joined together, and they were often placed on difficult sites chosen for terrain easy to defend, rather than for beauty. All this was to change in the middle of the 17th century with the development of the first real Garden à la française.
Vaux-le-Vicomte
The first important garden à la française was the Chateau of Vaux-le-VicomteVaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France...
, created by Nicolas Fouquet
Nicolas Fouquet
Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV...
, the superintendent of Finances to Louis XIV, beginning in 1656. Fouquet commissioned Louis Le Vau
Louis Le Vau
Louis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris.He was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration...
to design the chateau, Charles LeBrun to design statues for the garden, and Andre Le Notre
André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France...
to create the gardens. For the first time, that garden and the chateau were perfectly integrated. A grand perspective of 1500 meters extended from the foot of the chateau to the statue of the Hercules of Farnese; and the space was filled with parterres of evergreen shrubs in ornamental patterns, bordered by colored sand, and the alleys were decorated at regular intervals by statues, basins, fountains, and carefully sculpted topiaries. "The symmetry attained at Vaux achieved a degee of perfection and unity rarely equalled in the art of classic gardens. The chateau is at the center of this strict spatial organization which symbolizes power and success."
Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles, created by Andre Le Notre between 1662 and 1700, were the greatest achievement of the Garden à la francaise. They were the largest gardens in Europe - with an area of 15000 hectares, and were laid out on an east-west axis followed the course of the sun: the sun rose over the Court of Honor, lit the Marble Court, crossed the Chateau and lit the bedroom of the King, and set at the end of the Grand Canal, reflected in the mirrors of the Hall of Mirrors. In contrast with the grand perspectives, reaching to the horizon, the garden was full of surprises - fountains, small gardens fill with statuary, which provided a more human scale and intimate spaces.Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
in the central fountain of the garden. "The views and perspectives, to and from the palace, continued to inifinity. The king ruled over nature, recreating in the garden not only his domination of his territories, but over the court and his subjects."
Theorists and Gardeners of the Garden à la française
Jacques BoyceauJacques Boyceau
Jacques Boyceau, sieur de la Barauderie was a French garden designer, the superintendent of royal gardens under Louis XIII, whose posthumously-produced Traité du iardinage selon les raisons de la nature et de l'art. Ensemble divers desseins de parterres, pelouzes, bosquets et autres ornements was...
, sieur de la Barauderie (ca 1560–1633) the superintendent of royal gardens under Louis XIII, became the first theorist of the new French style. His book, Traité du jardinage selon les raisons de la nature et de l'art. Ensemble divers desseins de parterres, pelouzes, bosquets et autres ornements was published after his death in 1638. Its sixty engravings of designs for parterres and bosquets made it a style book for gardens, which influenced the design the Palais du Luxembourg, the Jardin des Tuileries, and the gardens of Saint Germain-en-Laye.
Claude Mollet
Claude Mollet
Claude Mollet , premier jardinier du Roy— first gardener to three French kings, Henri IV, Louis XIII and the young Louis XIV—was a member of the Mollet dynasty of French garden designers in the seventeenth century...
(ca 1564-shortly before 1649), was the chief gardener of three French Kings; Henry IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
, Louis XIII
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
and the young Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. His father was head gardener at the château d'Anet
Château d'Anet
The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France...
, where Italian formal gardening was introduced to France and where Claude apprenticed, and his son was André Mollet
André Mollet
André Mollet was a French garden designer, the son of Claude Mollet—gardener to three French kings—and the grandson of Jacques Mollet, gardener at the château d'Anet, where Italian formal gardening was introduced to France....
, who took the French style to Holland, Sweden and England.
Andre Le Notre
André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France...
(1613–1700) was the most important figure the history of the French garden The son of the gardener of Louis XIII, he worked on the plans of Vaux-le-Vicomte
Vaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France...
, before becoming the chief gardener of Louis XIV between 1645 and 1700, and the designer of the Gardens of Versailles
Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
, the greatest garden project of the age. The gardens he created became the symbols of French grandeur and rationality, setting the style for European gardens until the arrival of the English landscape park
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...
in the 18th century.
Joseph-Antoine Dezallier d'Argenville
Dezallier d'Argenville
The family of Dezallier d'Argenville produced two writers and connoisseurs in the course of the 18th century.Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville , avocat to the Parlement de Paris and secretary to the king, was a connoisseur of gardening who laid out two for himself and his family, before writing...
(1680–1765) wrote Theorie et traite de jardinage, laid out the principles of the Garden à la francaise, and included drawings and designs of gardens and parterres. It was reprinted many times, and was found in the libraries of aristocrats across Europe.
The Glossary of the French Garden
- ParterreParterreA 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...
. A planting bed, usually square or rectangular, containing an ornamental design made with low closely clipped hedges, colored gravel, and sometimes flowers. Parterres were usually laid out in geometric patterns, divided by gravel paths. They were intended seen from above from a house or terrace. A parterre de gazon was made of turf with a pattern cut out and filled with gravel. - Broderie (eng: Embroidery) A very curling decorative pattern within a parterre, created with trimmed yew or box or made by cutting the pattern out of a lawn and filling it with colored gravel.
- BosquetBosquetIn the French formal garden, a bosquet is a formal plantation of trees, at least five of identical species planted as a quincunx, or set in strict regularity as to rank and file, so that the trunks line up as one passes along either face...
. A small group of trees, usually some distance from the house, designed as an ornamental backdrop. - Allée. A straight path, often lined with trees.
- TopiaryTopiaryTopiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
. Trees or bushes trimmed into ornamental shapes. In French gardens, they were usually trimmed into geometric shapes. - Patte d'Oie. (Eng: Goose foot). Three or five paths or allées which spread outward from a single point.
The Principles of the French Garden
Jacques Boyceau de La Barauderie wrote in 1638 in his Traite du jardinage selon les raisons de la nature et d'art that "the principal reason for the existence of a garden is the esthetic pleasure which it gives to the spectator."The form of the French garden was strongly influenced by the Italian gardens of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, and was largely fixed by the middle of the 17th century. It had the following elements, which became typical of the formal French garden:
- A geometric plan using the most recent discoveries of perspectivePerspective (visual)Perspective, in context of vision and visual perception, is the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes; or their dimensions and the position of the eye relative to the objects...
and opticsOpticsOptics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
. - A terrace overlooking the garden, allowing the visitor to see all at once the entire garden. As the French landscape architect Olivier de SerresOlivier de SerresOlivier de Serres was a French author and soil scientist whose Théâtre d'Agriculture was the text book of French agriculture in the 17th century..Serres was born at Villeneuve-de-Berg, Ardèche...
wrote in 1600, "It is desirable that the gardens should be seen from above, either from the walls, or from terraces raised above the parterres. - All vegetation is constrained and directed, to demonstrate the mastery of man over nature. Trees are planted in straight lines, and carefully trimmed, and their tops are trimmed at a set height.
- The residence serves as the central point of the garden, and its central ornament. No trees are planted close to the house; rather, the house is set apart by low parterres and trimmed bushes.
- A central axis, or perspective, perpendicular to the facade of the house, on the side opposite the front entrance. The axis extends either all the way to the horizon (Versailles) or to piece of statuary or architecture (Vaux-le-Vicomte). The axis faces either South (Vaux-le-Vicomte, Meudon) or east-west (Tuileries, Clagny, Trianon, Sceaux). The principle axis is composed of a lawn, or a basin of water, bordered by trees. The principle axis is crossed by one or more perpendicular perspectives and alleys.
- The most elaborate parterres, or planting beds, in the shape of squares, ovals, circles or scrolls, are placed in a regular and geometric order close to the house, to complement the architecture and to be seen from above from the reception rooms of the house.
- The parterres near the residence are filled with broderies, designs created with low boxwoodBuxusBuxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....
to resemble the patterns of a carpet, and given a polychrome effect by plantings of flowers, or by colored brick, gravel or sand. - Farther from the house, the broderies are replaced with simpler parterres, filled with grass, and often containing fountains or basins of water. Beyond these, small carefully created groves of trees , serve as an intermediary between the formal garden and the masses of trees of the park. "The perfect place for a stroll, these spaces present alleys, stars, circles, theaters of greenery, galleries, spaces for balls and for festivities."
- Bodies of water (canals, basins) serve as mirrors, doubling the size of the house or the trees.
- The garden is animated with pieces of sculpture, usually on mythological themes, which either underline or punctuate the perspectives, and mark the intersections of the axes, and by moving water in the form of cascades and fountains.
The garden as architecture
Just as architects installed systems of water into the chateux, they laid out elaborate hydraulic systems to supply the fountains and basins of the garden. Long basins full of water replaced mirrors, and the water from fountains replaced chandeliers. In the bosquet du Marais in the gardens of Versailles, André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France...
placed tables of white and red marble for serving meals. The flowing water in the basins and fountains imitated water pouring into carafes and crystal glasses. The dominant role of architecture in the garden did not change until the 18th century, when 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...
arrived in Europe, and the inspiration for gardens began to come not from architecture but from romantic painting.
The Garden as Theatre
The Garden à la francaise was often used as a setting for plays, spectacles, concerts, and displays of fireworksFireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
. In 1664, Louis XIV celebrated a six-day festival in the gardens, with cavalcades, comedies, ballets, and fireworks. Gardens of Versailles included a theatre of water, decorated with fountains and statues of the infancy of the gods (destroyed between 1770 and 1780). Full-size ships were constructed for sailing on the Grand Canal, and the garden had an open-air ballroom, surrounded by trees; a water organ, a labyrinth
The labyrinth of Versailles
The labyrinth of Versailles was a maze in the Gardens of Versailles with groups of fountains and sculptures depicting Aesop's fables. André Le Nôtre initially planned a maze of unadorned paths in 1665, but in 1669, Charles Perrault, advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine fountains each...
, and a grotto.
Playing with Perspective
The architects of the garden à la française did not stop at applying the rules of geometry and perspective to their work – in the first published treatises on gardens, in the 17th century, they devoted chapters to the subject of how to correct or improve perspective, usually to create the illusion of greater distance. This was often done by having alleys become narrower, or having rows of trees that converged, or were trimmed so that they became gradually shorter, as they went farther away from the center of the garden or from the house. This created the illusion that the perspective was longer and that the garden was larger than it actually was.Another trick used by French garden designers was the Ha-ha (fr: saute-de loup). This was a method used to conceal fences which crossed long alleys or perspectives. A deep and wide trench with vertical wall of stone on one side was dug wherever a fence crossed a view, or a fence was placed in bottom of the trench, so that it was invisible to the viewer.
As gardens became more and more ambitious and elaborate through the 17th century, the garden no longer served as a decoration for the chateau; At Chantilly
Château de Chantilly
The Château de Chantilly is a historic château located in the town of Chantilly, France. It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency...
and at Saint-Germain
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale ....
, the chateau became a decorative element of the much larger garden.
New Technologies of the French Garden
The appearance of the French garden in the 17th and 18th centuries was a result of the development of several new technologies. The first was géoplastie, the science of moving large amounts of earth. This science had several technological developments. This science had come from the military, following the introduction of cannon and modern siege warfare, when they were required to dig trenches and build walls and earth fortifications quickly. This led to the development of baskets for carrying earth on the back, wheelbarrows, carts and wagons. Andre LeNotre adapted these methods to build the level terraces, and to dig canals and basins on a grand scale.A second development was in hydrology, bringing water to the gardens for the irrigation of the plants and for use in the many fountains. This development was not fully successful at Versailles, which was on a plateau; even with 221 pumps and a system of canals bringing water from the Seine, and the construction in 1681 of a huge pumping machine at Marly, there was still not enough water pressure for all the fountains of Versailles to be turned on at once. Fontainiers were placed along the routes of the King's promenades, and turned on the fountains at each site just before he arrived.
A related development took place in hydroplasie, the art and science of shaping water into different shapes as it came out the fountain. The shape of the water depended upon the force of the water and the shape of the nozzle. New forms created through this art were named tulipe (the tulip), double gerbe (the double sheaf),, Girandole(centerpiece) candélabre (candelabra), and corbeille (bouquet), La Boule en l'air (Ball in the air), and L'Evantail (the fan). This art was closely associated with the fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
of the time,, which tried to achieve similar effects with fire instead of water. Both the fountains and fireworks were often accompanied by music, and were designed to show how nature (water and fire) could be shaped by the will of man.
Another important development was in horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
, in the ability to raise plants from warmer climates in the northern European climate by protecting them inside buildings and bringing them outdoors in pots. The first orangerie were built in France in the 16th century following the introduction of the orange tree after the Italian Wars. The orangerie at Versailles has walls five meters thick, with a double wall that maintains temperatures in winter between 5 and 8 degrees celsius. Today it can shelter 1055 trees.
The Colors, Flowers and Trees of the Garden à la française
Ornamental flowers were relatively rare in French gardens in the 17th century, and there was a limited range of colors; blue, pink, white and mauve. Brighter colors (yellow, red, orange) would not arrive until about 1730, because of botanical discoveries from around the world brought to Europe. Bulbs of tulips and other exotic flowers came from TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Holland.; An important ornamental feature in Versailles and other gardens was the topiary
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
, a tree or bush carved into geometric or fantastic shapes, which were placed in rows along the main axes of the garden, alternating with statues and vases.
At Versailles flower beds were found only at the Trianon
Trianon
Trianon may refer to:* Le Grand Trianon, a palace near Versailles, France* Le Petit Trianon, a château near Versailles, France* Le Trianon , a theatre and concert hall at 80, boulevard de Rochechouart in Paris...
and in parterres on the north side of the palace. Flowers were usually brought from Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, kept in pots, and changed three or four times a year. Palace records from 1686 show that the Palace used 20,050 jonquil bulbs, 23000 cyclamen
Cyclamen
Cyclamen is a genus of 23 species of perennials growing from tubers, valued for their flowers with upswept petals and variably patterned leaves...
, and 1700 lily plants.
Most of the trees at Versailles were taken from the forest; they included hornbeam
Hornbeam
Hornbeams are relatively small hardwood trees in the genus Carpinus . Though some botanists grouped them with the hazels and hop-hornbeams in a segregate family, Corylaceae, modern botanists place the hornbeams in the birch subfamily Coryloideae...
, elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
, linden
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
, and beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
trees. There were also chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
trees from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
trees. Large trees were dug up from the forests of Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
and Artois
Artois
Artois is a former province of northern France. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras , Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.-Location:...
and transplanted to Versailles. Many died in transplanting and had to be regularly replaced.
The trees in the park were trimmed both horizontally and flattened at the top, giving them the desired geometric form. Only in the 18th century were they allowed to grow freely.
The decline of the garden à la française
Andre Le Nôtre died in 1700, but his pupils and his ideas continued to dominate the design of gardens in France through the reign of Louis XV. His nephew Degots created the garden at BagnoletBagnolet
Bagnolet is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Its inhabitants are called Bagnoletais.-History:...
(Seine-Saint-Denis
Seine-Saint-Denis
- Culture :A number of hip hop artists come from the Seine-Saint-Denis, including one of the first major hip-hop groups in France, NTM, as well as Lord Kossity, or more recent acts such as Tandem or Sefyu.- Miscellaneous topics :...
) for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
(1717) and at Champs (Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...
), and another relative, Garnier d'Isle, created gardens for Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...
at Crécy (Eure-et-Loire) in 1746 and Bellevue (Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine is designated number 92 of the 101 départements in France. It is part of the Île-de-France region, and covers the western inner suburbs of Paris...
) in 1748-1750. The major inspiration for gardens continued to be architecture, rather than nature - the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange-Jacques Gabriel was the most prominent French architect of his generation.Born to a Parisian family of architects and initially trained by the royal architect Robert de Cotte and his father , whom he assisted in the creation of the Place Royale at Bordeaux , the younger Gabriel...
designed elements of the gardens at Versailles, Choisy (Val-de-Marne), and Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
.
Nonetheless, a few variations in the strict geometry of the garden à la française began to appear. Elaborate parterres of broderies, with their curves and counter-curves, were replaced by parterres of grass bordered with flowerbeds, which were easier to maintain. Circles became ovals, called rotules, with alleys radiating outward in the shape of an 'x', and irregular octagon shapes appeared. Gardens began to follow the natural landscape, rather than moving earth to shape the ground into artificial terraces.
In the middle of the 18th century, the influence of the new 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...
created by British aristocrats and landowners, and the popularity of the Chinese style, brought to France by Jesuit priests from the Court of the Emperor of China, a style which rejected symmetry in favor of nature and rustic scenes, brought an end to the reign of the symmetrical garden à la française. In many French parks and estates, the garden closest to the house was kept in the traditional à la française style, but the rest of the park was transformed into the new style, called variously jardin a l'anglaise (the English garden), "anglo-chinois", exotiques, or "pittoresques". This marked the end of the age of the garden à la française and the arrival in France of the Jardin Paysager, or landscape garden, which was inspired not by architecture but by painting, literature and philosophy. (See 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...
.)
Predecessors in the Italian Renaissance Style
- Château d'AnetChâteau d'AnetThe Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France...
(1536) - Château de VillandryChâteau de VillandryThe Château de Villandry is a castle-palace located in Villandry, in the département of Indre-et-Loire, France.The lands where an ancient fortress once stood were known as Colombier until the 17th century...
(1536, destroyed in 19th century and recreated beginning in 1906) - Chateau Fontainebleau (1522–1540)
- Château de ChenonceauChâteau de ChenonceauThe Château de Chenonceau is a manor house near the small village of Chenonceaux, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher, sometime before its first mention in writing in the 11th century...
, gardens of Diane de PoitiersDiane de PoitiersDiane de Poitiers was a French noblewoman and a prominent courtier at the courts of kings Francis I and his son, Henry II of France. She became notorious as the latter's favourite mistress...
and Catherine de Medici (1559–1570)
Gardens Designed by André Le Nôtre
- Vaux-le-VicomteVaux-le-VicomteThe Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France...
(1658–1661) - Château de Versailles (1662–1700)
- Château de ChantillyChâteau de ChantillyThe Château de Chantilly is a historic château located in the town of Chantilly, France. It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency...
(1663–1684) - Château de FontainebleauChâteau de FontainebleauThe Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th century structure of Francis I. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards...
(1645–1685) - Château de Saint-CloudChâteau de Saint-CloudThe Château de Saint-Cloud was a Palace in France, built on a magnificent site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about 10 kilometres west of Paris. Today it is a large park on the outskirts of the capital and is owned by the state, but the area as a whole has had a large...
(1664–65) - Gardens of the Tuileries PalaceTuileries PalaceThe Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
(1664) - Grand Canal of Gardens of VersaillesGardens of VersaillesThe Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
(1668–1669) - Château de Saint-Germain-en-LayeChâteau de Saint-Germain-en-LayeThe Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale ....
(1669–1673) - Parc de Sceaux (1670)
- Château de DampierreChâteau de DampierreThe Château de Dampierre is the castle in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, in the Vallée de Chevreuse, France.Built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, 1675-1683 for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, it is a French Baroque château of manageable size...
(1673–1783) - Grand TrianonGrand TrianonThe Grand Trianon was built in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles at the request of Louis XIV, as a retreat for the King and his maîtresse en titre of the time, the marquise de Montespan, and as a place where the King and invited guests could take light meals away from the strict...
at Versailles (1687–1688) - Château de ClagnyChâteau de ClagnyThe Château de Clagny was a French country house that stood northeast of the Château de Versailles; it was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Madame de Montespan between 1674 and 1680...
(1674–1680) - Château de MeudonChâteau de MeudonThe former Château de Meudon, on a hill in Meudon, about 4 kilometres south-west of Paris, occupied the terraced steeply sloping site. It was acquired by Louis XIV, who greatly expanded its as a residence for Louis, le Grand Dauphin...
- Château de CordèsChâteau de CordèsThe Château de Cordès is a castle situated at an altitude of 900m in the commune of Orcival, in the Puy-de-Dôme département of France. The château is privately owned, and open to the public...
(1695) - Château de Montmirail
- Château de Pontchartrain
Gardens Attributed to André Le Nôtre
- Château de Raincy
- Château de Valgenceusel
- Château de du Fage
- Château de CourancesChâteau de CourancesThe Château de Courances at Courances is a French château built in approximately 1630.- House :In 1552, Côme Clausse, a notary and royal secretary to the King, acquired from the Lapite family the former seigneurial dwelling at Courances, at the western edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau...
- Château de Castres
- Château de Castries
- Castle of RacconigiCastle of RacconigiThe Royal Castle of Racconigi is a palace and landscape park in Racconigi, province of Cuneo, Italy. It was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, and is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy included by UNESCO in the World Heritage Sites list.-History:The...
Later gardens
- Château de BreteuilChâteau de BreteuilThe Château de Breteuil was built in the early 17th century and decorated principally in the 18th century...
(1730–1784)
19th - 21st century versions of the garden à la française
- Jardin de la MagaloneJardin de la MagaloneThe Jardin de la Magalone is public park and Garden à la française in the city of Marseille, France. It is listed by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Notable Gardens of France.-Description:...
, Marseille, garden by Eduard Andre, 1891. - Nemours Mansion and GardensNemours Mansion and GardensThe Nemours Mansion and Gardens is a country estate with jardin à la française formal gardens and a classical French mansion located in Wilmington, Delaware. The mansion resembles a Château and contains more than seventy rooms spread over five floors occupying nearly . It shares the grounds with...
- du PontAlfred I. du PontAlfred Irénée du Pont was an American industrialist, financier and philanthropist. A member of the influential Du Pont family, Alfred du Pont first rose to prominence through his work in his family's Delaware-based gunpowder manufacturing plant, E. I...
estate, early 20th century. - Pavillon de GalonPavillon de GalonThe Pavillon de Galon was built at the end of the 18th century as a hunting lodge. It is located in Cucuron, in Vaucluse, on the south side of the Luberon mountain range of southern France....
in CucuronCucuronCucuron is a village in the Vaucluse department, of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in southeastern France. Its inhabitants are called Cucuronnais....
, created in 2004
Gardens à la française outside of France
- PeterhofPeterhof PalaceThe Peterhof Palace in Russian, so German is transliterated as "Петергoф" Petergof into Russian) for "Peter's Court") is actually a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the...
Gardens, St. Petersburg, Russia (1714–1725) - Summer GardenSummer GardenThe Summer Garden occupies an island between the Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in Saint Petersburg and shares its name with the adjacent Summer Palace of Peter the Great.-Original:...
, St. Petersburg (1712-1725) - Tsarskoe Selo Old Garden, PushkinPushkin (town)Pushkin is a municipal town in Pushkinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located south from the center of St. Petersburg proper, and its train station, Detskoye Selo, is directly connected by railway to the Vitebsky Rail Terminal of the city...
, Russia (1717-1720) - KuskovoKuskovoKuskovo was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility,...
Estate, Moscow, Russia (1750–1780) - Blenheim PalaceBlenheim PalaceBlenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...
, England (1705–1724) - Herrenhausen GardensHerrenhausen GardensThe Herrenhausen Gardens , located in Lower Saxony's capital of Hanover are made up of the Great Garden , the Berggarten, the Georgengarten and the Welfengarten. The gardens are a heritage of the Kings of Hanover.The Great Garden has always been one of the most distinguished baroque formal gardens...
, Hanover, Germany (1676-1680) - RacconigiCastle of RacconigiThe Royal Castle of Racconigi is a palace and landscape park in Racconigi, province of Cuneo, Italy. It was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, and is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy included by UNESCO in the World Heritage Sites list.-History:The...
Palace, Italy (1755) - Branicki Palace, Białystok, Poland (1737–1771)
Sources
- Yves-Marie Allain and Janine Christiany, L'art des jardins en Europe, Citadelles et Mazenod, Paris, 2006
- Claude Wenzler, Architecture du jardin, Editions Ouest-France, 2003
- Lucia Impelluso, Jardins, potagers et labyrinthes, Hazan, Paris, 2007.
- Philippe Prevot, Histoire des jardins, Editions Sud Ouest, 2006