nr eNôtre Le André In Perspective 1613-2013 Until 23February 2014

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i N v i t y The most famous gardener in History

Who was André Le Nôtre? The exhibition at the Palace of Versailles, which brings the celebrations dedicated to Le Nôtre to a close, shows the genius of this incredible creator who is famous for designing the estate of Versailles. Born into a family of royal gardeners at the Tuileries in Paris in 1613, André Le Nôtre took over from his father brilliantly, first working for Louis XIII and then becoming indispensable to Louis XIV. Gardener, designer, architect and visionary landscaper, his name is inextricably linked with French formal gardens. Through his many large-scale accomplishments, including those at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Sceaux, Saint-Cloud and Chantilly — not to mention his creations in Europe —, he has left an imposing body of work, making his mark right up to the present day.

–2– e Room 1 f vThe gardener and art collector

Not only was he a gardener, he was also an art lover! Having trained under Simon Vouet, first painter to King Louis XIII, Le Nôtre was one of the era's most important collectors — as illustrated here in the re-creation of his collection room. Master paintings, sculptures inspired by mythology, rare medals: the guides written for rich travellers of the day already indicated that his collection was In the Le Nôtre collection: a painting by Nicolas Poussin exceptional. When at the Saint John Baptising the People, age of 80, he retired from and a sculpture by Ferdinando his functions as gardener Tacca Apollo and Daphne. and designer, he donated to the King 21 paintings which are now in the national collections.

Le Nôtre can't find this sculpture in his collection; 1 help him identify the shadow of the sculpture.

–3– Construction of Versailles Palace, with Jules Hardouin-Mansart and André Le Nôtre by Adam-Frans Van Der Meulen. e Room 2 f The ennobled designer During the reign of Louis XIII, Le Nôtre spent his time learning the trade and then under Louis XIV he played a leading role. First he was the designer of the King's gardens, then he became his advisor, and later the General Controller of Buildings, Gardens, Arts and Factories. The King enjoyed the company of this highly cultivated man, appreciated his sincerity, often sought his advice and granted him his friendship. Called to Versailles in 1661, Le Nôtre started the major works that represented the peak of his career. He soon became a favourite of the whole royal family and French nobility and the orders came rolling in. He was ennobled by Louis XIV in 1675. In this painting, you can see the King and his ministers as well as Le Nôtre visiting the site at Versailles.

–4– After being ennobled by the King, Le Nôtre was given a coat of arms that he himself created. Help him find his coat of arms using the following 2 clues: it has a yellow band pointing upwards on a black background and three small shelled animals, two of which are facing to the right.

–5– e Room 3 f The architect of space

Le Nôtre was a great master of vanishing points. For Versailles, he planned for the future and imagined the features that could be created as far as the eye could see, despite the fact that some pieces of land had not yet been purchased. At the time, the estate had a surface area of 10,000 ha, i.e. ten times the present area. At the same time as Versailles, Le Nôtre worked on many other creations: Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Saint-Cyr, Meudon, Sceaux and other estates in France and Europe.

Observe all the ladies on horseback in this room. Each of them is posing 3 The Duchess of Burgundy in front of an estate created by Le Nôtre. in front of the Grand Canal at This horse rider is lost - help her find the Palace of Fontainebleau. her estate.

–6– e Room 4 f

EST QERASU ETEPCOESL ______

SMASPOC ARIP FO SMACOPSES ______

RANTADQU ______The gardener's tools Le Nôtre's profession required many technical and scientific skills in optics, hydraulics, From his letters, the exhibition topography, town planning, etc. curators discovered that André In this room you can see a 4 Le Nôtre was dyslexic, in other re-creation of his workshop words he mixed up letters. with his table and various tools. In these anagrams, you will find the names of the instruments he used everyday.

–7– e Rooms 5 -6-7 f The art of Le Nôtre

Based on the principles of organising space and extending perspectives, Le Nôtre transformed Versailles into a real masterpiece. Although he did not invent French formal gardens, he was the first to use them so extensively. From the seventeenth century on, gardens became vaster and were crossed by large perspectives which allowed the creation of a succession of different spaces. They included beautiful layouts of parterres, walks, groves and terraces following on from each other. Through the pools, fountains and water parterres, water is omnipresent.

GLOSSARY - FRENCH FORMAL GARDENS maze parterre grove topiary Network of plant-lined paths. In Ornamental plant These wooded areas were Topiary, introduced by the 1668, André Le Nôtre began to beds organised in fact sumptuously deco- Romans, is the art of pru- work on the Palace of Versailles into a variety rated "green salons" in ning shrubs (particularly grove maze which was based on of geometrical which great festivities were yew, box and cypress) ra- an idea conceived by Charles patterns. organised. Versailles had ther like plant sculptures. Perrault. fifteen groves. View of the Orangery, the Hundred Steps stairways and the Palace of Versailles by Etienne Allegrain.

Create some topiary art yourself 5 by completing the series below.

–9– Find all the words relating to French formal gardens in the grid below. They may be written forwards, 6 backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

perspective fountain parterre maze

statue topiary pond grove

– 10 – e Room 8 f Gardens that go down in history

When André Le Nôtre died at the age of 87 in his house in the Tuileries in September 1700, his art had already spread throughout all of Europe. His assistants travelled around spreading his method of work and foreign gardeners came to train in France. Overshadowed by the English landscape 7 garden in the nineteenth century, the regular Le Nôtre style garden made a comeback in Look up at the ceiling in this the twentieth century and influe nced many room. You will see a picture architects and landscape designers of the cover of a book on including the famous Le Corbusier. In the architecture showing the architectural drawing (above) made for the influence exerted by Le Nôtre Villa Church in Ville-d’Avray, we can see how up until the twentieth century. Le Corbusier re-adopted Le Nôtre's parterres. What does this picture depict? At the end of this tour, you will be able to r a river system discover the project by the landscape designer r a motorway access road Louis Benech and the artist Jean-Michel r a skyscraper Othoniel who were asked to re-create the Water Theatre Grove which had disappeared up until now. until now had disappeared. – 11 – This is part of a painting by Etienne Allegrain showing the gardens of Versailles. 8 Spot the 7 differences between the two pictures.

Booklet designed by www.parismomes.fr. Design: Maïa Bouteillet and Elodie Coulon. Graphics: Elodie Coulon. Illustrations: Albertine. Photo credits. Cover: ©ToucanWings - ©Sabatier - ©Christophe Fouin - ©Christian Milet - ©RMN - Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) / Gérard Blot. P.2: Portrait of Le Nôtre: © Palace of Versailles/ Jean- Marc Manaï. P.3: Painting of Saint John Baptising the People: © RMN-Grand Palais (Louvre Museum) / Stéphane Maréchalle. Apollo and Daphne © RMN-Grand Palais (Louvre Museum) / Daniel Arnaudet. P.4: Construction of Palace of Versailles, with Jules Hardouin-Mansart and André Le Nôtre. From the Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013. P.6: Marie-Adelaide of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy (1685-1712), in front of the Grand Canal at the Palace of Fontainebleau © RMN-Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) / Daniel Arnaudet / Gérard Blot. P.8: View of the Orangery, the Hundred Step Stairways and the Palace of Versailles circa 1695 © RMN-Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) / Franck Raux. P.10: View of the Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal of Versailles in 1713 © Palace of Versailles, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Jean-Marc Manaï View of the Salle des Festins Grove in the gardens of Versailles © RMN-Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) /All rights reserved. Bird's Eye View of the Palace, Lower Gardens and Town of Saint-Cloud © RMN-Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) /Gérard Blot. View of the Gallery of Antiques or Water Gallery with Narcissus gazing at his reflection in a fountain © RMN-Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) / Philipp Bernard. Perspective view of the Chateau of Meudon belonging to His Highness the Marquis de Louvois © Ile-de-France Museum Collection, Sceaux / Clément Apffel. Louis XIV and his Court Hunting at the Château of Meudon © RMN-Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles)/Christian Jean. General view of the palace and gardens of Marly © Palace of Versailles. 1720 The Labyrinth – Chaufourier © Palace of Versailles. Perspective of the Palace of Versailles from the Fountain of Neptune © Palace of Versailles. P.11: Villa Church, Ville-d'Avray, 1927-1929 © FLC/ADAGP, 2013. P.12: Promenade of Louis XIV with view of the Northern Parterre in the gardens of Versailles circa 1688 © RMN-Grand Palais (Palace of Versailles) /Gérard Blot.