DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0436
France in the Time of the Renaissance
407
enclosed by a trellis, also with a dividing wall which is ornamented with niches, columns,
and statues.
After the second half of the sixteenth century this separation of garden from house
is an exception unless there is a special necessity for it, and it only happens at Chenonceaux
because of the eccentric character of its ground. France arrived much later than Italy at
the deliberate treatment of the garden scheme, but her peculiarity lies in the fact that she
came to this in her own way, and was less and less dependent on the ways of Italy.
Du Cerceau says the Castle of Anet (Fig. 325) was one of the finest of that day; it
was built by a very famous architect, Philibert de l'Orme, at the command of Henry II.,
for Diane de Poitiers. No doubt de l'Orme had to use the old foundations of a mediaeval
castle, but in his combination of house and garden he produced an architectural whole
which ranks with the finest Italian masterpieces of his time. He knows how to make use
of all traditional ideas, and also how to adapt them, both to the whims of a pleasure-
FIG. 325. ANET
loving day and to the caprices of the lady. The wide strip of water round the place,
though it is furnished with walls, bastions, and towers at the corners, is only employed
as an enlivening ornament. We step over a drawbridge to the entrance lodge, itself a
cheerful building on pillars, with Benvenuto Cellini's nymph of Fontainebleau let into its
lunette. On either side of the portal there are thickets, whose tree-tops cast shadow as we
enter, and suggest to us—as does the stag with dogs on the top of the gate—that we are
now in the domain of the namesake of the goddess of the chase, with whose trappings the
king's friend loves to be adorned. At the sides of a front court there are two others, each
with a fountain in the centre, one of them being Goujon's famous Diana. Through the
middle gate, opposite the entrance lodge, the only part of this beautiful building which
has been preserved for us, we pass into the garden, which extends the whole width of
the three courts.
In front of the castle a broad terrace gives a fine view, and from it we step down to
the garden. This has on three sides a rustica gallery, "qui donne an jar din un merveilleux
eclat a la vue," as Du Cerceau says. There are two fountains orientated to the wings of the
castle, and these adorn the fine beds, and also give to the garden, which is a good deal
wider than its depth, the balance of a (so to speak) double centre. At the back the canal
407
enclosed by a trellis, also with a dividing wall which is ornamented with niches, columns,
and statues.
After the second half of the sixteenth century this separation of garden from house
is an exception unless there is a special necessity for it, and it only happens at Chenonceaux
because of the eccentric character of its ground. France arrived much later than Italy at
the deliberate treatment of the garden scheme, but her peculiarity lies in the fact that she
came to this in her own way, and was less and less dependent on the ways of Italy.
Du Cerceau says the Castle of Anet (Fig. 325) was one of the finest of that day; it
was built by a very famous architect, Philibert de l'Orme, at the command of Henry II.,
for Diane de Poitiers. No doubt de l'Orme had to use the old foundations of a mediaeval
castle, but in his combination of house and garden he produced an architectural whole
which ranks with the finest Italian masterpieces of his time. He knows how to make use
of all traditional ideas, and also how to adapt them, both to the whims of a pleasure-
FIG. 325. ANET
loving day and to the caprices of the lady. The wide strip of water round the place,
though it is furnished with walls, bastions, and towers at the corners, is only employed
as an enlivening ornament. We step over a drawbridge to the entrance lodge, itself a
cheerful building on pillars, with Benvenuto Cellini's nymph of Fontainebleau let into its
lunette. On either side of the portal there are thickets, whose tree-tops cast shadow as we
enter, and suggest to us—as does the stag with dogs on the top of the gate—that we are
now in the domain of the namesake of the goddess of the chase, with whose trappings the
king's friend loves to be adorned. At the sides of a front court there are two others, each
with a fountain in the centre, one of them being Goujon's famous Diana. Through the
middle gate, opposite the entrance lodge, the only part of this beautiful building which
has been preserved for us, we pass into the garden, which extends the whole width of
the three courts.
In front of the castle a broad terrace gives a fine view, and from it we step down to
the garden. This has on three sides a rustica gallery, "qui donne an jar din un merveilleux
eclat a la vue," as Du Cerceau says. There are two fountains orientated to the wings of the
castle, and these adorn the fine beds, and also give to the garden, which is a good deal
wider than its depth, the balance of a (so to speak) double centre. At the back the canal