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121-775: The jardin à la française evolved from the French Renaissance garden , a style which was inspired by the Italian Renaissance garden 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;

242-529: A salle de verdure , this bosquet contained a path encircling a central pentagonal area. In 1671, the bosquet was enlarged with a more elaborate system of paths that served to enhance the new central water feature, a fountain that resembled a mountain, hence the bosquets new name: Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau . The bosquet was completely remodeled in 1704 at which time it was rechristened Bosquet de l'Étoile (Marie 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985). Created in 1670, this bosquet originally contained

363-418: A Secretary of State for both Louis XII and Francis I . Robertet had visited the Villa Medici in Fiesole and wanted to reproduce the terraced gardens he saw there. The château, departing from the traditional design, was integrated closely with its gardens. Visitors passed through a square garden inside the castle and out into two geometric gardens behind the château, decorated with fountains and surrounded by

484-460: A central rectangular pool surrounded by a turf border. Edging the pool were metal reeds that concealed numerous jets for water; a swan that had water jetting from its beak occupied each corner. The center of the pool featured an iron tree with painted tin leaves that sprouted water from its branches. Because of this tree, the bosquet was also known as the Bosquet du Chêne Vert . In 1705, this bosquet

605-615: A change in outlook as advocated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Philosophes , the winter of 1774–1775 witnessed a complete replanting of the gardens. Trees and shrubbery dating from the reign of Louis XIV were felled or uprooted with the intent of transforming the French formal garden of Le Nôtre and Hardouin-Mansart into a version of an English landscape garden . The attempt to convert Le Nôtre's masterpiece into an English-style garden failed to achieve its desired goal. Owing largely to

726-499: A degree 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 Gardens of Versailles , created by André Le Nôtre between 1662 and 1700, were the greatest achievement of the garden à la française . They were the largest gardens in Europe, with an area of 15,000 hectares, and were laid out on an east–west axis followed

847-708: A distance of three-quarters of a mile. Citing repair and maintenance costs, Louis XVI ordered the Labyrinthe demolished in 1778. In its place, an arboretum of exotic trees was planted as an English-styled garden. Rechristened Bosquet de la Reine , it would be in this part of the garden that an episode of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace , which compromised Marie Antoinette , transpired in 1785 (Marie 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984; Perrault 1669; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985). Originally designed by André Le Nôtre in 1661 as

968-618: A dolphin. During the replantation of 1774–1775, both the bosquets were destroyed. The areas were replanted with lime trees and were rechristened the Quinconce du Nord and the Quinconce du Midi (Marie 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985). In 1665, André Le Nôtre planned a hedge maze of unadorned paths in an area south of the Latona Fountain near the Orangerie . (Loach, 1985) In 1669, Charles Perrault – author of

1089-412: A new variety of plum called " Reine Claude " ("Queen Claude"), and used very specific techniques such as half barrels as tree planter boxes. The gardens of Château-Gaillard stand as the "missing link" between medieval monastic gardens and future French formal gardens . At the beginning of the 16th century, King Francis I , who had also visited Italy and had met Leonardo da Vinci , built gardens in

1210-403: A quatrefoil island surrounded by a channel that contained fifty water jets. Each lobe of the island contained a simple fountain; access to the island was obtained by two swing bridges. Beyond the channel and placed at the cardinal points within the bosquet were four additional fountains. Under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart , the bosquet was completely remodeled in 1706. The central island

1331-440: 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

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1452-483: A suite of rooms was arranged for the use of the empress Marie-Louise , but the gardens were left unchanged, save for the disastrous felling of trees in the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines . Massive soil erosion necessitated planting new trees. (Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) With the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the gardens of Versailles witnessed the first modifications since

1573-578: A system of canals bringing water from the Seine, and the construction in 1681 of a huge pumping machine, the Machine de 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 ,

1694-479: 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. The architects of the garden à la française did not stop at applying the rules of geometry and perspective to their work. In

1815-425: A tract, De re aedificatoria for Lorenzo de' Medici . Alberti used the geometric principles of Vitruvius to design building façades and gardens. He suggested that the house should look over the garden, and that the garden should have "porticos for giving shade, cradles where vines grow on columns of marble, and there should be vases and even amusing statues, provided that they are not obscene." In his design of

1936-607: A traveller, Poliphile, to fantastic lands in search of his love, Polia, had an enormous influence upon gardens of the time. The ideas of a "garden-island" in a lake, such as the one in the Boboli Gardens in Florence, of statues of giants coming out of earth in the park of the Villa di Pratolino , and the theme of labyrinth were all taken from the imaginary voyages of Poliphile. All these elements were to appear in French Renaissance gardens. In 1495, Charles VIII invaded

2057-535: A treatise called Opus Ruralium Commodium, which laid out a formal plan for gardens, ornamented with topiary sculptures, trees and bushes trimmed into architectural shapes, following a tradition begun by the Romans . King Charles V of France ordered a French translation in 1373, and the new Italian style began to appear in France. Another influential writer was Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), who in 1450 wrote

2178-459: A wooden gallery. The axis went from the entrance to the chapel, at the far end of the garden. Like Italian Renaissance gardens, the gardens of Bury were located on the edge of a hill, with a fine view of the forest of Blois. In the centre of the court of the château, Robertet placed a bronze copy of Michelangelo's David , which had been given to him by the Republic of Florence . The gardens of

2299-475: A year. In addition to the meticulous manicured lawns, parterres , and sculptures are the fountains, which are located throughout the garden. Dating from the time of Louis XIV and still using much of the same network of hydraulics as was used during the Ancien Régime , the fountains contribute to making the gardens of Versailles unique. On weekends from late spring to early autumn, the administration of

2420-492: 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

2541-465: Is today at Versailles. (Hedin 1992; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) During this phase of construction, three of the garden's major bosquets were modified or created. Beginning with the Galerie des Antiques , this bosquet was constructed in 1680 on the site of the earlier and short-lived Galerie d'Eau (1678). This bosquet was conceived as an open-air gallery in which antique statues and copies acquired by

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2662-662: The Académie de France in Rome were displayed. The following year, construction began on the Salle de Bal . Located in a secluded section of the garden west of the Orangerie , this bosquet was designed as an amphitheater that featured a cascade – the only one surviving in the gardens of Versailles. The Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1685 with a ball hosted by the Grand Dauphin . Between 1684 and 1685, Jules Hardouin-Mansart built

2783-578: The Mother Goose Tales – advised Louis XIV to remodel the Labyrinthe in such a way as to serve the Dauphin's education (Perrault, 1669). Between 1672 and 1677, Le Nôtre redesigned the Labyrinthe to feature thirty-nine fountains that depicted stories from Aesop's Fables . The sculptors Jean-Baptiste Tuby , Étienne Le Hongre , Pierre Le Gros , and the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy worked on these thirty-nine fountains each of which

2904-423: The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau , Île du Roi and Miroir d'Eau , the Salle des Festins ( Salle du Conseil ), the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines in 1671; the Labyrinthe and the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1672; the Bosquet de la Renommée ( Bosquet des Dômes ) and the Bosquet de l'Encélade in 1675; and the Bosquet des Sources in 1678 (Marie 1972, 1976; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985). In addition to

3025-464: The Château de Blois . Beginning in 1528, King Francis I created new gardens at the Château de Fontainebleau , which featured fountains, parterres, a forest of pine trees brought from Provence , and the first artificial grotto in France. The Château 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

3146-608: The Château de Fontainebleau , located in a forest which had been the hunting preserve of the Capetian Kings of France, were created by Francis I beginning in 1528. The garden featured fountains, parterres, a forest of pine trees brought from Provence and the first artificial grotto in France in 1541. Catherine de' Medici ordered copies in bronze of the statues which decorated the Cortile del Belvedere in Rome. A statue of Hercules in repose by Michelangelo decorated

3267-559: The Colonnade . Located on the site of Le Nôtre's Bosquet des Sources , this bosquet featured a circular peristyle formed from thirty-two arches with twenty-eight fountains and was Hardouin-Mansart's most architectural of the bosquets built in the gardens of Versailles (Marie 1972, 1976; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) Due to financial constraints arising from the War of the League of Augsburg and

3388-589: The Grand Parc were parceled and dispersed. Sensing the potential threat to Versailles, Louis Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821) – director of the jardins botaniques and grandson of Claude Richard – lobbied the government to save Versailles. He succeeded in preventing further dispersing of the Grand Parc and threats to destroy the Petit Parc were abolished by suggesting that the parterres could be used to plant vegetable gardens and that orchards could occupy

3509-568: The Kingdom of Naples , and he saw the luxury of the palaces and gardens in Italy. When he returned to France in 1496, he convinced and brought back with him 22 Italian artists, including a monk and master gardener from Naples named Pacello da Mercogliano . They decided to reproduce in Amboise the marvels of Tuscany and elected a 15 hectares amphitheater-shaped land in the heart of the city to realize

3630-645: The Netherlands . 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 Grand 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

3751-549: The Petit Trianon as a residence that would allow him to spend more time near the jardins botaniques . It was at the Petit Trianon that Louis XV fell fatally ill with smallpox; on 10 May 1774, the king died at Versailles. (Marie, 1984; Thompson, 2006) Upon Louis XVI 's ascension to the throne, the gardens of Versailles underwent a transformation that recalled the fourth building campaign of Louis XIV. Engendered by

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3872-480: The War of the Spanish Succession , no significant work on the gardens was undertaken until 1704. Between 1704 and 1709, bosquets were modified, some quite radically, with new names suggesting the new austerity that characterized the latter years of Louis XIV's reign. (Marie 1976; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) With the departure of the king and court from Versailles in 1715 following the death of Louis XIV,

3993-516: The 16th century following the introduction of the orange tree after the Italian Wars. The Versailles Orangerie had walls five meters thick, with a double wall that maintains temperatures in winter between 5 and 8 degrees Celsius (41 and 46 °F). Today it can shelter 1055 trees. Source: French Renaissance garden Gardens of the French Renaissance were initially inspired by the Italian Renaissance garden , which evolved later into

4114-563: The 19th century to English landscape gardens and have not been reinstated. 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

4235-566: The Chinese style, brought to France by Jesuit priests from the Court of the Emperor of China. These styles rejected symmetry in favor of nature and rustic scenes and 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

4356-443: The King's dream of Poggioreale . Charles VIII ordered the construction of Château-Gaillard, Amboise, and Pacello chose this royal domain to introduce and acclimatize the first orange trees in France. He created lawns, floral beds and settings for his "Arte del Verde" and successfully introduced Italian style gardens for the very first time in France. He used Château-Gaillard as an experimental laboratory for his innovations: he created

4477-602: The Louis XIII's château provided a means by which, though the decoration of the garden façade, imagery in the decors of the grands appartements of the king and queen formed a symbiosis with the imagery of the gardens. (Lighthart, 1997; Mâle, 1927) With this new phase of construction, the gardens assumed the topographical and iconological design vocabulary that would remain in force until the 18th century. As André Félibien noted in his description of Versailles, solar and apollonian themes predominated with projects constructed at

4598-579: The Lycians into frogs. This episode from mythology has been seen by historians in reference as an allegory to the revolts of the Fronde , which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV. The link between Ovid's story and this episode from French history is emphasized by the reference to "mud slinging" in a political context. The revolts of the Fronde – the word fronde also means slingshot – have been regarded as

4719-703: The Revolution. In 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the conversion of the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau into an English-style garden – the Jardin du Roi . (Thompson 2006) While much of the château's interior was irreparably altered to accommodate the Museum of the History of France dedicated to "all the glories of France" (inaugurated by Louis Philippe I on 10 June 1837), the gardens, by contrast, remained untouched. With

4840-547: The River Cher, divided into compartments, with a basin in the centre. The gardens of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye marked the beginning of the transition to a new style, which would be called jardin à la française . The garden was laid out in 1595 by royal gardener Charles Mollet for Henry IV . Gardens of Versailles The Gardens of Versailles ( French : Jardins du château de Versailles [ʒaʁdɛ̃ dy ʃɑto d(ə) vɛʁsɑj] ) occupy part of what

4961-464: 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 Théorie et traité de jardinage , laid out the principles of the garden à la française , and included drawings and designs of gardens and parterres. It

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5082-463: 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

5203-455: 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. Today, water remains a key garden design in

5324-769: The arrangement of the flowers is designed to create a harmonious interplay of colours. Frequently found in French Baroque gardens are water gardens , cascades , grottos and statues . Further away from the country house , stately home , chateau or schloss the parterre transitions into the bosquets. Well known examples are the gardens at the Palace of Versailles in France and the Palace of Augustusburg at Brühl, near Cologne in Germany, which have achieved UNESCO World Heritage status. As fashions changed, many parterres de broderie of stately homes had to give way in

5445-434: 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

5566-399: 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

5687-620: The base of the Satory hill south of the château. Later modifications in the garden would transform this fountain into the Bassin de Neptune . (Marie 1972, 1975; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) Excavated in 1678, the Pièce d'eau des Suisses – named for the Swiss Guards who constructed the lake – occupied an area of marshes and ponds, some of which had been used to supply water for the fountains in

5808-460: The botanic gardens and working farm of Louis XV were obliterated to create an English garden, called the "Anglo-Chinese" garden at the time, which stretched to the north and east of the Petit Trianon. Some of the exotic specimens from the botanic garden were preserved in the gardens, but most were brought to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. A lake and several meandering rivers were formed as part of

5929-527: The caravels and yachts that were received from The Netherlands and the gondolas and gondoliers received as gifts from the Doge of Venice , hence the name. (Marie 1968; Nolhac 1901, 1925; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) Above and beyond the decorative and festive aspects of this garden feature, the Grand Canal also served a practical role. Situated at a low point in the gardens, it collected water it drained from

6050-470: The causeway was remodelled and most of the water jets were removed. A century later, in 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau to be completely remodeled as an English-style garden. At this time, the bosquet was rechristened Jardin du Roi (Marie 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985). In 1671, André Le Nôtre conceived a bosquet – originally christened Salle des Festins and later called Salle du Conseil – that featured

6171-472: The chateaux, 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

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6292-432: The classic past. (Berger I, 1985; Friedman, 1988,1993; Hedin, 1981–1982; Marie, 1968; Nolhac, 1901; Thompson, 2006; Verlet, 1961, 1985; Weber, 1981) One of the distinguishing features of the gardens during the second building campaign was the proliferation of bosquets. Expanding the layout established during the first building campaign, Le Nôtre added or expanded on no fewer that ten bosquets: The Bosquet du Marais in 1670;

6413-569: The construction of the Aile des Nobles (1685–1686), the Parterre du Nord was remodeled to respond to the new architecture of this part of the château. To compensate for the loss of the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys and to meet the increased demand for water, Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed new and larger reservoirs situated due north of the Aile des Nobles (Thompson 2006). Construction for

6534-619: 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 filled with statuary, which provided a more human scale and intimate spaces. The central symbol of

6655-519: The design of gardens in France through the reign of Louis XV . His nephew, Claude Desgots , created the garden at Château de Bagnolet ( Seine-Saint-Denis ) for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1717) and at Champs ( Seine-et-Marne ), and another relative, Jean-Charles Garnier d'Isle  [ fr ] , created gardens for Madame de Pompadour at Crécy ( Eure-et-Loir ) in 1746 and Bellevue ( Hauts-de-Seine ) in 1748–50. The major inspiration for gardens continued to be architecture, rather than nature –

6776-460: 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. His son

6897-478: The east–west axis just west and below the Parterre d'Eau , is the Bassin de Latone . Designed by André Le Nôtre, sculpted by Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy , and constructed between 1668 and 1670, the fountain depicted an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses . Latona and her children, Apollo and Diana , being tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants , who refused to let her and her children drink from their pond, appealed to Jupiter who responded by turning

7018-414: The east–west axis to the walls of the Grand Parc . During the Ancien Régime , the Grand Canal served as a venue for boating parties. In 1674, as a result of a series of diplomatic arrangements that benefited Louis XIV, the king ordered the construction of Petite Venise (Little Venice). Located at the junction of the Grand Canal and the junction of the northern transversal branch, Little Venice housed

7139-415: The east–west axis, these two bosquets were arranged as a series of paths around four salles de verdure and which converged on a central "room" that contained a fountain. In 1682, the southern bosquet was remodeled as the Bosquet de la Girondole , thus named due to spoke-like arrangement of the central fountain. The northern bosquet was rebuilt in 1696 as the Bosquet du Dauphin with a fountain that featured

7260-486: The exception of the state visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1855, at which time the gardens were a setting for a gala fête that recalled the fêtes of Louis XIV, Napoleon III ignored the château, preferring instead the château of Compiègne (Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985). With the arrival of Pierre de Nolhac as director of the museum in 1892, a new era of historical research began at Versailles. Nolhac, an ardent archivist and scholar, began to piece together

7381-489: The expansion of existing bosquets and the construction of new ones, there were two additional projects that defined this era, the Bassin des Sapins and the Pièce d'eau des Suisses . In 1676, the Bassin des Sapins , which was located north of the château below the Parterre du Nord and the Allée des Marmousets was designed to form a topological pendant along the north–south axis with the Pièce d'eau des Suisses located at

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7502-430: The finance minister Nicolas Fouquet , who was accused by rivals of embezzling crown funds in order to build his luxurious château at Vaux-le-Vicomte , Louis XIV turned his attention to Versailles. With the aid of Fouquet's architect Louis Le Vau , painter Charles Le Brun , and landscape architect André Le Nôtre , Louis began an embellishment and expansion program at Versailles that would occupy his time and worries for

7623-406: 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 centre of the garden or from

7744-441: The following elements, which became typical of the formal French garden: Ornamental flowers were relatively rare in French gardens in the 17th century and there was a limited range of colours: blue, pink, white and mauve. Brighter colours (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 Turkey and

7865-499: The form of canals , cascades and monumental fountains, and extensive use of artificial grottoes , labyrinths , and statues of mythological figures. They became an extension of the châteaux that they surrounded, and were designed to illustrate the Renaissance ideals of measure and proportion, and to remind viewers of the virtues of Ancient Rome . In the 13th century, the Italian landscape architect Pietro de' Crescenzi wrote

7986-600: The form of round pools and long ponds. 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 châteaux, and were usually enclosed by walls. In French garden design, the chateau or home was supposed to be the visual focal point. The different parts of the gardens were not harmoniously joined, and they were often placed on difficult sites chosen for terrain easy to defend, rather than for beauty. All this

8107-416: The fountains in the garden above. Water from the Grand Canal was pumped back to the reservoir on the roof of the Grotte de Thétys via a network of windmill-powered and horse-powered pumps. (Thompson 2006) Situated above the Latona Fountain is the terrace of the château, known as the Parterre d'Eau . Forming a transitional element from the château to the gardens below and placed on the north–south axis of

8228-459: 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 . The garden à la française was often used as a setting for plays, spectacles, concerts, and displays of fireworks . In 1664, Louis XIV celebrated a six-day festival in the gardens, with cavalcades, comedies, ballets, and fireworks. Gardens of Versailles included

8349-421: The garden of the lake. In 1594, Henry IV added a small island in the lake connected to the court of fountains by a bridge. The Château de Chenonceau had two separate gardens: the first created in 1551 for Diane de Poitiers , the mistress of King Henry II , with a large parterre and a jet d'eau (jet of water), and a second, smaller garden created for Catherine de' Medici in 1560, on a terrace raised above

8470-421: 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 infinity. The king ruled over nature, recreating in the garden not only his domination of his territories, but over the court and his subjects." André Le Nôtre died in 1700, but his pupils and his ideas continued to dominate

8591-502: The garden. This water feature, with a surface area of more than 15 hectares, is the second largest – after the Grand Canal – at Versailles. (Marie 1972, 1975; Nolhac 1901, 1925; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) Modifications in the gardens during the third building campaign were distinguished by a stylistic change from the natural esthetic of André Le Nôtre to the architectonic style of Jules Hardouin Mansart . The first major modification to

8712-524: The garden; two twin octagonal basins were constructed and decorated with bronze statues representing the four main rivers of France. In the same year, Le Vau's Orangerie , located to south of the Parterrre d'Eau was demolished to accommodate a larger structure designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. In addition to the Orangerie , the Escaliers des Cent Marches , which facilitated access to the gardens from

8833-527: The gardens along with the château were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their cultural importance during the 17th and 18th centuries. With Louis XIII's final purchase of lands from Jean-François de Gondi in 1632 and his assumption of the seigneurial role of Versailles in the 1630s, formal gardens were laid out west of the château. Records indicate that late in the decade Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson designed

8954-593: The gardens at Versailles, Louis XV – an avid botanist – directed his efforts at Trianon. In the area now occupied by the Hameau de la Reine , Louis XV constructed and maintained les jardins botaniques – the botanical gardens . In 1750, the year in which les jardins botaniques were constructed, the Jardinier-Fleuriste , Claude Richard (1705–1784), assumed administration of the botanical gardens. In 1761, Louis XV commissioned Ange-Jacques Gabriel to build

9075-447: The gardens during the reign of Louis XVI was the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon . The rockwork grotto set in an English style bosquet was the masterpiece of Hubert Robert in which the statues from the Grotte de Thétys were placed. (Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) At the Petit Trianon, which was gifted to Marie Antoinette by Louis XVI in 1774, the new Queen dramatically relandscaped the surrounding parkland and gardens. Between 1776 and 1786,

9196-633: The gardens during this phase occurred in 1680 when the Tapis Vert – the expanse of lawn that stretches between the Latona Fountain and the Apollo Fountain – achieved its final size and definition under the direction of André Le Nôtre. (Nolhac 1901; Thompson 2006) Beginning in 1684, the Parterre d'Eau was remodeled under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Statues from the Grande Commande of 1674 were relocated to other parts of

9317-468: The gardens of the Cortile del Belvedere in Rome, the architect Bramante (1444–1544) introduced the idea of perspective , using a long axis perpendicular to the palace, along which he placed parterres and fountains. This became a central feature of Renaissance gardens. A popular novel by the monk Francesco Colonna , published in Venice in 1499, called The Dream of Poliphile , an allegorical journey by

9438-463: The gardens, the Parterre d'Eau provided a setting in which the imagery and symbolism of the decors of the grands appartements synthesized with the iconography of the gardens. In 1664, Louis XIV commissioned a series of statues intended to decorate the water feature of the Parterre d'Eau . The Grande Commande , as the commission is known, comprised twenty-four statues of the classic quaternities and four additional statues depicting abductions from

9559-411: The gardens, which remained relatively unchanged until the expansion ordered under Louis XIV in the 1660s. This early layout, which has survived in the so-called Du Bus plan of c.1662, shows an established topography along which lines of the gardens evolved. This is evidenced in the clear definition of the main east–west and north–south axis that anchors the gardens' layout. In 1661, after the disgrace of

9680-505: The gardens. Existing bosquets and parterres were expanded and new ones created. Most significant among the creations at this time were the Versailles Orangerie and the "Grotte de Thétys". (Nolhac 1901, 1925) The Orangery, which was designed by Louis Le Vau , was located south of the château, a situation that took advantage of the natural slope of the hill. It provided a protected area in which orange trees were kept during

9801-544: The gardens. It was for the first time that the 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 Farnese Hercules , and the space was filled with parterres of evergreen shrubs in ornamental patterns, bordered by coloured sand, and the alleys were decorated at regular intervals by statues, basins, fountains, and carefully sculpted topiaries. "The symmetry attained at Vaux achieved

9922-597: The grander and more formal jardin à la française during the reign of Louis XIV , by the middle of the 17th century. In 1495, King Charles VIII and his nobles brought the Renaissance style back to France after their war campaign in Italy . They reached their peak in the gardens of the royal Château de Fontainebleau , Château d'Amboise , Château de Blois , and Château de Chenonceau . French Renaissance gardens were characterized by symmetrical and geometric planting beds or parterres , plants in pots, paths of gravel and sand, terraces, stairways and ramps, moving water in

10043-470: The grotto and were surrounded by various fountains and water features. (Marie 1968; Nolhac 1901, 1925; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) Technically, the "'Grotte de Thétys" played a critical role in the hydraulic system that supplied water to the garden. The roof of the grotto supported a reservoir that stored water pumped from the Clagny pond and which fed the fountains lower in the garden via gravity. Located on

10164-471: The history of Versailles, and subsequently established the criteria for restoration of the château and preservation of the gardens, which are ongoing to this day. (Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) Owing to the many modifications made to the gardens between the 17th and the 19th centuries, many of the bosquets have undergone multiple modifications, which were often accompanied by name changes. These two bosquets were first laid out in 1663. Located north and south of

10285-406: 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: saut 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

10406-488: The installation of the statuary by the Gilles Guérin , François Girardon , Thomas Regnaudin , Gaspard Marsy , and Balthazar Marsy , the grotto formed an important symbolic and technical component to the gardens. Symbolically, the "Grotte de Thétys" related to the myth of Apollo – and by that association to Louis XIV. It was as the cave of the sea nymph Thetis , where Apollo rested after driving his chariot to light

10527-404: 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

10648-399: The larger – Île du Roi – contained an island that formed the focal point of a system of elaborate fountains. The Île du Roi was separated from the Miroir d'Eau by a causeway that featured twenty-four water jets. In 1684, the island was removed and the total number of water jets in the bosquet was significantly reduced. The year 1704 witnessed a major renovation of the bosquet at which time

10769-647: The museum sponsors the Grandes Eaux – spectacles during which all the fountains in the gardens are in full play. Designed by André Le Nôtre, the Grand Canal is the masterpiece of the Gardens of Versailles. In the Gardens too, the  Grand Trianon  was built to provide the Sun King with the retreat he wanted. The  Petit Trianon  is associated with Marie Antoinette , who spent her time there with her closest relatives and friends. In 1979,

10890-701: The new landscaping and the architect Richard Mique was entrusted with designing follies to embellish the gardens like the Grotto, the Belvedere and the Temple of Love . Beyond the "Anglo-Chinese" garden, the Hameau de la Reine was built between 1782 and 1788, designed by Mique and Hubert Robert. In 1792, under order from the National Convention , some of the trees in gardens were felled, while parts of

11011-401: The new style on three terraces of different levels bordered by the old walls of his Château de Blois . Besides the parterres of flowers, the gardens produced a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, including orange and lemon trees in boxes, which were taken indoors in winter. The building that sheltered them, still standing, was the first orangerie in France. The gardens were on the site of

11132-458: The new style, called variously jardin à 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. Jacques Boyceau , sieur de la Barauderie (c. 1560–1633)

11253-798: The north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain (a protected wildlife preserve) to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south. Administered by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles , an autonomous public entity operating under the aegis of the French Ministry of Culture , the gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors

11374-402: The old medieval château, were planted in parterres of flowers and fruit trees. The parterre at the entrance of the garden featured the coat of arms of France in flowers. Bushes were trimmed into the shapes of men on horseback, ships, and birds. It was also decorated with imposing fountains of marble. The gardens of the Château de Bury were built between 1511 and 1524 by Florimont Robertet ,

11495-473: The open areas of the garden. These plans were never put into action; however, the gardens were opened to the public – it was not uncommon to see people washing their laundry in the fountains and spreading it on the shrubbery to dry. (Thompson 2006) In 1793 most of the decorative pieces of the Triumphal Arch Grove were destroyed. The Napoleonic era largely ignored Versailles. In the château,

11616-452: The origin of the use of the term "mud slinging" in a political context. (Berger, 1992; Marie, 1968, 1972, 1976; Nolhac, 1901; Thompson, 2006; Verlet, 1961, 1985; Weber, 1981) Further along the east–west axis is the Bassin d'Apollon – the Apollo Fountain. Occupying the site of Rondeau/Bassin des Cygnes of Louis XIII, the Apollo Fountain, which was constructed between 1668 and 1671, depicts

11737-501: The palace and gardens entered an era of uncertainty. In 1722, Louis XV and the court returned to Versailles. Seeming to heed his great-grandfather's admonition not to engage in costly building campaigns, Louis XV did not undertake the costly building campaigns at Versailles that Louis XIV had. During the reign of Louis XV, the only significant addition to the gardens was the completion of the Bassin de Neptune (1738–1741). (Marie 1984; Verlet 1985) Rather than expend resources on modifying

11858-580: 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 parterres de broderie (from the French French : broderie meaning 'embroidery') is the typical form of French garden design of the Baroque . It is characterised by a symmetrical layout of the flower beds and sheared box hedging to form ornamental patterns known as broderie . Even

11979-488: The present-day Place Victor-Hugo and the site of the railways station. The last vestiges of the garden were destroyed in 1890 by the construction of the Avenue Victor-Hugo . At about the same time, Pacello da Mercogliano designed gardens for the Château de Gaillon owned by Cardinal Georges d'Amboise , a Minister of King Henry IV, who had also spent time in Italy. The gardens, built on different levels below

12100-419: The remainder of his reign. From this point forward, the expansion of the gardens of Versailles followed the expansions of the château. Accordingly, Louis XIV's building campaigns apply to the gardens as well. At every stage the prescribed tour was carefully managed, under the Sun King's directions. In 1662, minor modifications to the château were undertaken; however, greater attention was given to developing

12221-506: The ruinously expensive Canal de l'Eure was inaugurated in 1685; designed by Vauban it was intended to bring waters of the Eure over 80 kilometres, including aqueducts of heroic scale, but the works were abandoned in 1690: see The problem of water . Between 1686 and 1687, the Bassin de Latone, under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was rebuilt. It is this version of the fountain that

12342-446: 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. Limited colors were available at the time as well. Traditionally, French gardens included blue, pink, white, and mauve. The middle of the 18th century saw spread in popularity of the new English landscape garden , created by British aristocrats and landowners, and

12463-399: The shortcomings of Versailles and began to expand the château and the gardens once again. (Verlet, 1961, 1985) Between 1664 and 1668, a flurry of activity was evidenced in the gardens – especially with regard to fountains and new bosquets; it was during this time that the imagery of the gardens consciously exploited Apollo and solar imagery as metaphors for Louis XIV. Le Vau's enveloppe of

12584-478: The sky. The grotto was a freestanding structure located just north of the château. The interior, which was decorated with shell-work to represent a sea cave, contained the statue group by the Marsy brothers depicting the sun god attended by nereids (central grouping) and his horses being groomed by attendants of Thetis (the two accompanying statue groups). Originally, these statues were set in three individual niches in

12705-417: The south, to the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses , and to the Parterre du Midi were constructed at this time, giving the gardens just south of the château their present configuration and decoration. Additionally, to accommodate the anticipated construction of the Aile des Nobles – the north wing of the château – the Grotte de Thétys was demolished. (Marie 1968, 1972, 1976; Nolhac 1899, 1901, 1902, 1925) With

12826-406: The sun god driving his chariot to light the sky. The fountain forms a focal point in the garden and serves as a transitional element between the gardens of the Petit Parc and the Grand Canal . (Marie 1968; Nolhac 1901, 1925; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985) With a length of 1,500 metres and a width of 62 metres, the Grand Canal , which was built between 1668 and 1671, physically and visually prolongs

12947-415: 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-one engravings of designs for parterres and bosquets made it a style book for gardens, which influenced

13068-567: The time. 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 Château d'Amboise and at Château Gaillard, another private résidence in Amboise. His successor Henry II , who had also travelled to Italy and had met Leonardo da Vinci , created an Italian-style garden nearby at

13189-444: The time: "Since the sun was the emblem of Louis XIV, and that poets join the sun and Apollo, there is nothing in this superb house that does not relation to this divinity." (Félibien, 1674). Three additions formed the topological and symbolic nexus of the gardens during this phase of construction: the completion of the "Grotte de Thétys", the " Bassin de Latone ", and the " Bassin d'Apollon ". Started in 1664 and finished in 1670 with

13310-461: The topology of the land, the English esthetic was abandoned and the gardens replanted in the French style. However, with an eye on economy, Louis XVI ordered the palissades – the labour-intensive clipped hedging that formed walls in the bosquets – to be replaced with rows of lime trees or chestnut trees. Additionally, a number of the bosquets dating from the time of the Sun King were extensively modified or destroyed. The most significant contribution to

13431-550: The use of fountains and cascades to animate the garden; stairways and ramps to unite different levels of the garden; grottos , labyrinths , 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 . Additionally, the symmetry of French gardens was a continuation of the Renaissance themes of harmony. French gardens were symmetrical and well manicured to represent order, and this idea of orderliness extended to French society at

13552-485: The winter months. (Nolhac 1899, 1902) The "Grotte de Thétys", which was located to the north of the château, formed part of the iconography of the château and of the gardens that aligned Louis XIV with solar imagery. The grotto would be completed during the second building campaign. (Verlet 1985) By 1664, the gardens had evolved to the point that Louis XIV inaugurated the gardens with the fête galante called Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée . The event, which officially

13673-534: Was André Mollet , who took the French style to the Netherlands, Sweden and England. André Le Nôtre (1613–1700) was the most important figure in 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

13794-459: Was accompanied by a plaque on which the fable was printed, with verse written by Isaac de Benserade ; from these plaques, Louis XIV's son learned to read. Once completed in 1677, the Labyrinthe contained thirty-nine fountains with 333 painted metal animal sculptures. The water for the elaborate waterworks was conveyed from the Seine by the Machine de Marly . The Labyrinthe contained fourteen water-wheels driving 253 pumps, some of which worked at

13915-539: 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 orangeries were built in France in

14036-466: Was destroyed in order to allow for the creation of the Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon , which was created to house the statues had once stood in the Grotte de Thétys . During the reign of Louis XVI, Hubert Robert remodeled the bosquet, creating a cave-like setting for the Marsy statues. The bosquet was renamed the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon (Marie 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985). Originally designed in 1671 as two separate water features,

14157-473: 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 formal garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre . Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to

14278-399: 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. The appearance of the French garden in the 17th and 18th centuries was

14399-418: Was reprinted many times, and was found in the libraries of aristocrats across Europe. Jacques Boyceau de La Barauderie wrote in 1638 in his Traité du jardinage, selon les raisons de la nature et de l'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 largely fixed by the middle of the 17th century. It had

14520-453: Was to celebrate his mother, Anne d'Autriche , and his consort Marie-Thérèse but in reality celebrated Louise de La Vallière , Louis' mistress, was held in May of that year. Guests were regaled with fabulous entertainments in the gardens over a period of one week. As a result of this fête – particularly the lack of housing for guests (most of them had to sleep in their carriages), Louis realized

14641-498: Was to change in the middle of the 17th century with the development of the first real garden à la française . The first important garden à la française was the Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte , created for Nicolas Fouquet , the Superintendent of Finances to Louis XIV , beginning in 1656. Fouquet commissioned Louis Le Vau to design the chateau, Charles Le Brun to design statues for the garden, and André Le Nôtre to create

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