DOI article:
Artykuły i komunikaty
DOI article:Zarębska, Teresa: Wielkie osie urbanistyczne XVIII-wiecznej Warszawy a kreacje André Le Nôtre'a
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49351#0097
Andre Le Nótre - Master of Illusion and Splendour
91
Splendour. Le Nótre was undoubtedly a master
of splendour, and this was obvious to the court at
Versailles, among people encouraged by Louis XIV
to ‘splendour, sumptuousness and extravagance’
(Saint-Simon). The Roi-Soleil stated that he wanted
the most magnificent court in the world. The raising
and extending of residences occupied a considerable
amount of his attention, and the designers of the
buildings and gardens belonged to a particular and
privileged group of people, admitted through a back
door to the monarch several times daily to be in his
presence without any witnesses.
In the 17th century a new kind of use began to
take shape for these grand designs. Of course, and
above all, they served as places to walk in, with either
a li ving or written guide (six versions of Louis XIV’s
own guide has already been the object of academic
research). Apart from the courtly perambulations,
suppers, theatrical performances and balls were
arrranged in the gardens. Le Nótre’s gardens, fuli of
greatness, visual impact and noble bearing, were well
suited to the reąuirements of royal politics. In what a
fortunate way the talent of Le Nótre met with the
expectations of his employer and the affluence of the
royal coffers!
Myth. The myth of Le Nótre already came into
being at the end of the century in which he lived.
When he died, European gardeners were already well
aware of the importance of his ideas. In the 18th
century very many of the European residences of
autocrats from Portugal to Russia arose in a dialogue
with the tradition of Versailles and its garden. Le
Nótre, symbol of the times of the Roi-Soleil, was
remembered, adored, but also, in tune with the rhythm
of changing historie opinion on the epoch of
Versailles, subsequently criticised. The wide span of
opinions ranging from wonder to opposition which
it both awoke and contmues to arouse bears witness
to its morę than average format. Conservators of
historie gardens also have much to thank him for,
sińce precisely their work on his gardens, restored at
the end of the 19th century, by Henri and Achille
Duchene, was regarded as the beginning of a
systemmatised conservation of historie monuments
of gardening based on theoretical determinants. Bold
and innovative conservationist work provoking much
discussion and carried out on the gardens at Versailles
over the past several years undoubtedly opens a new
chapter.
Translatecl by Peter Martyn
91
Splendour. Le Nótre was undoubtedly a master
of splendour, and this was obvious to the court at
Versailles, among people encouraged by Louis XIV
to ‘splendour, sumptuousness and extravagance’
(Saint-Simon). The Roi-Soleil stated that he wanted
the most magnificent court in the world. The raising
and extending of residences occupied a considerable
amount of his attention, and the designers of the
buildings and gardens belonged to a particular and
privileged group of people, admitted through a back
door to the monarch several times daily to be in his
presence without any witnesses.
In the 17th century a new kind of use began to
take shape for these grand designs. Of course, and
above all, they served as places to walk in, with either
a li ving or written guide (six versions of Louis XIV’s
own guide has already been the object of academic
research). Apart from the courtly perambulations,
suppers, theatrical performances and balls were
arrranged in the gardens. Le Nótre’s gardens, fuli of
greatness, visual impact and noble bearing, were well
suited to the reąuirements of royal politics. In what a
fortunate way the talent of Le Nótre met with the
expectations of his employer and the affluence of the
royal coffers!
Myth. The myth of Le Nótre already came into
being at the end of the century in which he lived.
When he died, European gardeners were already well
aware of the importance of his ideas. In the 18th
century very many of the European residences of
autocrats from Portugal to Russia arose in a dialogue
with the tradition of Versailles and its garden. Le
Nótre, symbol of the times of the Roi-Soleil, was
remembered, adored, but also, in tune with the rhythm
of changing historie opinion on the epoch of
Versailles, subsequently criticised. The wide span of
opinions ranging from wonder to opposition which
it both awoke and contmues to arouse bears witness
to its morę than average format. Conservators of
historie gardens also have much to thank him for,
sińce precisely their work on his gardens, restored at
the end of the 19th century, by Henri and Achille
Duchene, was regarded as the beginning of a
systemmatised conservation of historie monuments
of gardening based on theoretical determinants. Bold
and innovative conservationist work provoking much
discussion and carried out on the gardens at Versailles
over the past several years undoubtedly opens a new
chapter.
Translatecl by Peter Martyn