Andre le Notre

Introduction

Andre Le Notre was a famous French architect. He was born in 1613 in Paris, and his parents were gardeners. Andre had known the garden all his life since he was brought up surrounded by garden yards.  He learned a lot about gardens, and this explains the career he ventured later in his years. Near his place was also the Palais du Louvre, where art classes were held.  In there, Andre Le Notre studied Mathematics and architecture. He became friends with Charles Le Brun, who helped him learn classical art. Brun also had a friend who was an engineer, Francois Mansart, who also trained Le Notre for several years.  All these factors equipped him with the knowledge and skills to undertake four major projects. He is known for designing the Palace of Versailles, Gardens of Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Chateau de Meudon, and Vaux-le Vicomte.

Andre le Notre career

Andre Le Notre was a landscape architect during the renaissance era. His work followed the Jardin a la Francaise, which was the French formal garden style. This style embarked on the manipulation of nature as well as the symmetry of elements. Andre le Notre’s interest in gardens began back at home. His grandfather was in charge of the gardens of the Palais de Tuileries back in 1572. His father was put in charge of the Tuileries gardens during king Louis’s  XIII reign. Le Notre replaced his father as the head gardener of Tuileries in 1637. His work was mainly to modernize the gardens that were developed before the Renaissance era using the French formal garden style.

Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles is a historical monument and a site of World Heritage. The building was designed by many French designers such as Louis Le Vau, Andre le Notre, Charles Cressent, and many others. However, the Park was specifically designed by Andre Le Notre. Louis XVII put Le Notre in charge of creating and renovating the Gardens of Versailles in 1661. Le Notre was motivated by his vast knowledge of gardens from his upbringing. Designing and full completion of the gardens took 40 years. Le Notre also involved experts like Baptiste Colbert and Charles Le Brun in coming up with statues and fountains. The garden sits on 800 hectares of land. It is mainly used for ceremonial events. Andre Le Notre considered many factors while designing the gardens.

Designing the gardens of Versailles

A Baroque art style was used to design the gardens, which was the same design that was used for the Palace of Versailles.  The gardens were also considered as important as the palace, hence were designed strategically. Designing of the park was considered a monumental task. First, in 1932, the land was bought from Jean Francos de Gondi. The earlier gardens were located in the west of the Chateau and had been designed through the Fu-Bus Plan. In 1661, Andre and his friend Charles Le Brun started designing a plan to expand the gardens. They followed King Louis the XIV’s directions in every stage. Firstly, the ground was leveled through the adding of huge amounts of soil to the designated area. The parterres were created, and the orangery, where orange trees were kept, was also expanded. The fountains which occupied the meadows and marshes were uprooted and replaced with new ones. Trees from various places in France were planted in the gardens. This was with the help of over 1000 men.

From 1664 to 1668, new fountains and bosquets were built, and they symbolized Apollo and the solar. The statues of the king and queen were created and planted in the garden. Andre Le Notre also designed the Bassin de Latone, which entailed statues of Appollo and Diana being punished by Lycian peasants using a mud slung. Here, the element of symbolism was used to signify political supremacy, as the muddling slinging represented the political power used on the people who revolted during the era of Fronde. The basin d’Apollon was a fountain that entailed the sun god riding on his carriage towards the light of the sky. The Grand Canal, on the other hand, was designed to collect all the water that drains from the fountains. The Parterre d’Eau was designed to portray imagery and symbolism of the decors and well synthesized with the topography of the gardens. The Neptune fountain is also a major structure, which Andre Le Notre build built. Le Notre decorated the fountain with cases made of stone and cupids. It depicted the sculptures of Neptune and Amphitrite. It is the largest fountain and supplies the most water in the garden.

Architectural elements

Andre Le Notre had a creative mind. He redesigned the large east-west axis and prolonged it into a stretching using the perspective art as far as the naked eye could see. That is, he made the stretching look longer than it was in the eye of the viewer. He made sure to maintain the natural slope of the land. He made use of the available water sources. He also knew how to the jungle with light and shade to create the groves, which are the shady figures and the parterres, which are the areas with light. He ensured to put walls of green lawns, which captivated the eye. The pools of water and creative decorations formed a contrast with the evenness of the land patches where trees were planted. Style is seen all over his design, where the statues are placed where there are the parterres. Trees were well-trimmed into amazing forms, which brought out the topiary art of the Versailles. The gardens also depict a balance between the evenness of the perfectly straightened paths and the well thought planted areas.Trees and shrubs were planted in plenty. The natural slope of the land is maintained.

Vaux-le-Vicomte

The Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte was first designed by Nicolas Fouquet and other designers from 1658-1661. It is also a baroque French Chateau. Its location is Maincy, southeast of Paris. In the late 17^th century, Andre Le Notre worked together with Charles Le Brun to redesign at Vaux-le Vicomte.  Their combined effort was named Louis XIV style because it was an amalgamation of architecture, interior design, and landscape design.

What motivated Andre le Notre to design Vaux-le-Vicomte

Vaux le Vicomte was suspected of having been financed using money that had been stolen from the national treasure. This led to the king, and his team was arrested. Fouquet was unable to complete the project, and Charles le Brun and Andre Le Notre took over.

The architecture of the garden

Le Notre’s main aim was to come up with a garden that did not change despite the change of seasons. Just like in the gardens of Versailles, he used a blend of parterres, statues, alleys, fountains, basins, and canal. The garden stretched up to 3 km. Two small rivers crossed the gardens. Andre Le Notre used these rivers to water the garden. He created an outstanding scene, which people could view while in the house. To achieve this, he used the elements of perspective. The elements of natural terrain and landscape were his tools towards achieving this perspective. He designed the canal to go at the endpoint of the garden so that when people looked over the land, they wouldn’t see it. This made the land look larger than it was. There were also wide lawns that met at the statue of Hercules. Shrubberies were also incorporated in the garden to provide a portrait frame to the garden and also bring out the aspect of royalty.

The element of Anamorphosis Adscondita

The anamorphosis abscondita is an element that Le Notre used in his design. This is an optical illusion with which he used to facilitate a decelerate perspective. It is also known as the hidden distortion. This was mainly created through the use of the pools. The reflection of the pool depicted an illusion of narrowness when close to a viewer and widest at the farthest point. This makes the pools appear closer to the viewer than they are. This feature is entirely used in the design, which makes all things look closer to the viewer than they are, and also, the land looks bigger than it already is. This can be referred to as forced perceptive. When one stands at the grand staircase, that’s where the splendid perspectival view begins, and this makes the land look beautiful, creating a one of a kind experience. The hidden distortion creates visual effects, which are only experienced when one is using their naked eye to view the gardens. The forced perspective cannot be captured in photographs. This is because the lens of the gardens is designed in an ambiguous way, in the eyes of the viewer. The contrasting perspectives created by the natural cues and the peripheral vision amounts to the forced perspectives, thus only experienced when one views them in person.

Also, while standing at the grand staircase, one can see the entire garden in one glance. All features are arranged in a proportioned way. The shrubs, fountains, flowers, etc., are all put in a position to increase the aspect of nature. All these aspects are what form the baroque style, whose aim is to mold nature to fit the designer’s desire, and in this case, the elements are arranged strategically to imitate nature. The largest sloping lawn cannot be seen until one starts to really explore the park.

Anamorphosis abscondita – the land entire land elongates to look longer than it already is. Standing in the grand staircase, one can see the entire garden in one glance.

Gardens of Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye

The Gardens of Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye were entirely re-modified by Andre Le Notre from 1662-1674. The three components of the land that Le Notre created are the Boulingrin, Grand Parterre, and Jardins de la Dauphine. The garden consists of two principal alleys; the extension of the Grand Parterre on the north of the Chateau-Vieux. The Grand Terrace is the southern alley. It marks the boundary of the domain for 2km. The Grand Parterre, which was also known as the great flowerbed, was destroyed after the construction of saint German trains. However, in the 1970s, the railway was made an underground train, and the great flowerbed was restored.

Before re-modification by Andre Le Notre, the gardens depicted an Italian culture, as it was first designed by an Italian architect. Andre Le Notre, however, re-modified using the French style of architecture. Andre le Notre used the aspect of forced perspective and maintained the topography of the garden.  Le Notre also implemented the symmetrical building, which contains parterres, which are arranged in a unique pattern. The gravel walks, fountains, basins, as well as bosquets were also used in this garden. The layout portrayed royal gardens.

The architectural design of the gardens

The monumental terrace of Le Notre was created using the aspect of the great perspective. The fact that it overlooks river seine and Paris suburbs, it offers breathtaking views. Le Notre creates landscape compositions using optical effects. The river along it gives reflections giving an offset perspective making the terrace long elongated that it is in reality. Le Notre also worked on the terrace, which divides belvedere and royal half-moon. A third of the terrace is inclining slightly while 2/3rds of the terrace is flat. Here optical effects also apply, making a walker think that the slope begins halfway when really it is only a third of the terrace. The terrace was created using the lines of perspectives such that they widen in the walker’s eyes as he continues to walk. The terraces and the orientation table offers the most breathtaking views of Paris City.

The photos show the great terrace and the terrace separating the belvedere and royal Halfmoon. From the images, the terraces look quite long, but that is just the effect of optical perspectives, which is with the help of the water on their sides. The map of the monumental terrace of le Notre appears to broaden as it elongates. These are the effects of the lines of perspectives.

Château de Meudon

The Chateau de Meudon is a castle situated in Meudon. It is built in a French style, and it is also known as the Royal Castle of Meudon. The castle stands between Paris and the Versailles and offers good views of the city of Paris, R. Seine, and Chalais Valley. It also has a favorable topography for the vast hanging gardens. The gardens were redesigned and modified by Andre Le Notre. The gardens were made up of three parts, which include the high ground, the low ground, and the great perspective. At the Meudon, way are Meudon’s viewpoints and are called the slope gardens. The great perspective covers a distance of 3.5 km, and it was developed on both sides of the Chateau Vieux. It organizes all elements of the castle as they are built alongside it. These include the Avenue de Chateau, which entails rows of trees, first and second ditches, front yards, the Royal Court, the floor, Orangerie, lawns, green carpets, and the Pond of Chalais.

The architectural design of the gardens

The gardens of Meudon were quite magnificent. The low gardens were first developed by Louvois. Modifications were made by monseigneur and Louis XIV. Andre le Notre worked on the gardens during the era of Louis XIV.  Andre le Notre ensured to maintain the original level of the gardens to maintain the different viewpoints that a viewer saw them from. The levels and different viewpoints brought out the charms of the gardens. Le Notre also ensured that he made created many water bodies. The water bodies were essential to increase the life of the gardens as well as create reflections when the viewer viewed the gardens from a higher level. These water bodies included the channel of the shadow, the ovale, the half-moon, the wood of Guenegaud, the octagon basin, the play of ande le Nostre, Cleopatra’s grove, the Arthelon canal and waterfall, and the small Grotto.

The high gardens are quite large; they are almost three times the size of the low gardens. Andre Le Notre designed a network of pathways. On their sides were many water bodies. Le Notre ensured that the higher gardens were uniformly flat, unlike the lower gardens, which entailed both high and low levels. Many elements were also incorporated in the high gardens. These included the cradles, parterre of the Grotto, the Glob, Parterre de Bois, Parasol, Gladiator, Bel Air Basin, and the Cloisters Glove. All these elements were flat grounds, which held water, which was used to water the garden. Also, they increased the beauty of the gardens as their reflection in natural light created the aspect of forced perspective, making the high gardens to look more elongated.  The gardens of Meudon also had numerous ponds, which were also a source of water for the gardens. The terrain was elevated, which increased the beauty of the garden. Treese was also planted to create a dense forest, which added more life to the gardens. Some of these ponds include the Triveau pond, the leg of one, the new tank, the ponds of Vilbon, the troject pond, and the fountains pond.

The picture shows the slope gardens. It can be seen that the high gardens are on one leverage grounds, whereas the low gardens are on a different level; some are on a high level while others are on a low level.

Conclusion

Andre Le Notre was a skilled architecture which not only used his knowledge in landscaping but also used classical art to build magnificent gardens. His major skills were the use of optic effects and perspectives to make features look closer to the viewer than they are as well as more elongated than they are. His french formal garden style was so classic and produced royal gardens. Andre Le Notre was one of a kind architect who enriched the French culture by building the most elegant gardens which have ever existed in the world. His work is still widely used to hold ceremonies. Also, people go for walks and hikes in the amazing terraces he builds just to enjoy and appreciate the magnificent work of the famous Andre Le Notre.

References

Devedjan, F. (n.d). The Chateau de Meudon. The world of the French Chateau. Retrieved from http://www.frenchchateau.net/chateaux-of-ile-de-france/chateau-de-meudon.html

Crew, J. (2016). The Gardens of Versailles: Landscaping a Political Façade. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/ADMIN/AppData/Local/Temp/22856-Article%20Text-51969-1-10-20161128.pdf

Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d). Andre Le Notre. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andre-Le-Notre

French Moments. (n.d). The Great Terrace of Le Notre in Sint Germain en-Laye. Retrieved from https://frenchmoments.eu/terrace-of-le-notre-saint-germain-en-laye/

Thomas, D. (2013). Vaux-le-Vicomte’s Legendary Landscape Architect Andre Le Notre. Retrieved from https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/french-chateau-gardens-vaux-le-vicomte-andre-le-notre