DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0443
414
History of Garden Art
fact, and here de l'Orme and Du Cerceau are especially prolific, the latter allowing himself
a number of toute sorte de jardins on every side, and then treating them separately as
giardini secretin
The descriptions given by poets came out to meet, so to speak, the visions of the
architects. Rabelais had already told of a perfectly formal hexagonal place, with towers
at each corner and water all round, in his Abbey of Thelemites. In these complete con-
necting links between different parts of the whole, in the blending of number and rhythm,
Rabelais was trying to get a model and a sort of foundation for his idea of a common life
on the one hand and the educational training of mankind on the other. He based the
desire for harmony, not on any compulsion, but on free will following out the highest
principle of Fay ce que vouldras. In the middle of his court he has a fountain of the
Three Graces—three young female figures, who pour forth waters from various parts
such as eyes, breasts, mouth and ears. He would have gardens in all the six sections of
the castle. On the side where the Loire flows by there is the flower-garden, with a laby-
rinth in the middle. On the other side the fruit-trees in the orchard were planted in a
quincunx. In the park farther on and near the castle, there was no lack of baths, animal
cages, hippodrome, theatre, open and enclosed places for tennis, targets for archery—in
fact, all the things that could be found in the parks of that day, or that a learned student
of past history could supply. Rabelais does not say much about the real laying-out of the
individual gardens; and any special feature is only useful to him in so far as it serves the
ends and suits the style of his general scheme of ideal education.
Very different is another Utopian thinker of the French Renaissance, as he lingers
awhile over the garden and its style—Bernard Palissy, the renowned potter and handi-
craftsman. In his little book, with the strange title, A True Recipe, by which all Frenchmen
may learn to add to their Treasures, he describes "a precious garden, so lovely that it is
second to none in the whole world except the Earthly Paradise." Thus does he speak
in the dedication to the Due de Montmorency. Palissy had found in the duke's father,
the great Constable who laid siege to his insubordinate native town, a very staunch
friend, in spite of the fact that Palissy had been one of the most energetic supporters
of the revolt. It was Montmorency who first made it possible for him to employ his
manifold talents. The Constable had just finished his castle at Ecouen, which he built in
the days of his exile. He commissioned Palissy to set up a grotto in this garden, the
passion for grottoes having quickly spread from Italy, where it flourished at the be-
ginning of the sixteenth century, to France.
The common characteristic of grottoes is ornament of the "grotesque" sort, some-
times in structures standing separately, sometimes in ground-floor rooms, and sometimes
underground, in this case generally under terraces. In France they started rather late,
but one early example is the Grotte des Pins at Fontainebleau. By the middle of the
century every garden that had any pretension to importance was bound to have at least
one grotto of the kind. It was the business of the artist to produce new ideas for them.
The grotto at Meudon was especially famous, because it was sung by Ronsard on the
occasion of the espousal feast of Claude de France, a daughter of Henry II., with the
Duke of Guise. The castle was started under Francis I., but Philibert de l'Orme was
commissioned to finish it by Jean de Guise, the first cardinal of Lorraine who belonged
to this family. The cardinal's lavish ways and love of pomp were proverbial, so he
History of Garden Art
fact, and here de l'Orme and Du Cerceau are especially prolific, the latter allowing himself
a number of toute sorte de jardins on every side, and then treating them separately as
giardini secretin
The descriptions given by poets came out to meet, so to speak, the visions of the
architects. Rabelais had already told of a perfectly formal hexagonal place, with towers
at each corner and water all round, in his Abbey of Thelemites. In these complete con-
necting links between different parts of the whole, in the blending of number and rhythm,
Rabelais was trying to get a model and a sort of foundation for his idea of a common life
on the one hand and the educational training of mankind on the other. He based the
desire for harmony, not on any compulsion, but on free will following out the highest
principle of Fay ce que vouldras. In the middle of his court he has a fountain of the
Three Graces—three young female figures, who pour forth waters from various parts
such as eyes, breasts, mouth and ears. He would have gardens in all the six sections of
the castle. On the side where the Loire flows by there is the flower-garden, with a laby-
rinth in the middle. On the other side the fruit-trees in the orchard were planted in a
quincunx. In the park farther on and near the castle, there was no lack of baths, animal
cages, hippodrome, theatre, open and enclosed places for tennis, targets for archery—in
fact, all the things that could be found in the parks of that day, or that a learned student
of past history could supply. Rabelais does not say much about the real laying-out of the
individual gardens; and any special feature is only useful to him in so far as it serves the
ends and suits the style of his general scheme of ideal education.
Very different is another Utopian thinker of the French Renaissance, as he lingers
awhile over the garden and its style—Bernard Palissy, the renowned potter and handi-
craftsman. In his little book, with the strange title, A True Recipe, by which all Frenchmen
may learn to add to their Treasures, he describes "a precious garden, so lovely that it is
second to none in the whole world except the Earthly Paradise." Thus does he speak
in the dedication to the Due de Montmorency. Palissy had found in the duke's father,
the great Constable who laid siege to his insubordinate native town, a very staunch
friend, in spite of the fact that Palissy had been one of the most energetic supporters
of the revolt. It was Montmorency who first made it possible for him to employ his
manifold talents. The Constable had just finished his castle at Ecouen, which he built in
the days of his exile. He commissioned Palissy to set up a grotto in this garden, the
passion for grottoes having quickly spread from Italy, where it flourished at the be-
ginning of the sixteenth century, to France.
The common characteristic of grottoes is ornament of the "grotesque" sort, some-
times in structures standing separately, sometimes in ground-floor rooms, and sometimes
underground, in this case generally under terraces. In France they started rather late,
but one early example is the Grotte des Pins at Fontainebleau. By the middle of the
century every garden that had any pretension to importance was bound to have at least
one grotto of the kind. It was the business of the artist to produce new ideas for them.
The grotto at Meudon was especially famous, because it was sung by Ronsard on the
occasion of the espousal feast of Claude de France, a daughter of Henry II., with the
Duke of Guise. The castle was started under Francis I., but Philibert de l'Orme was
commissioned to finish it by Jean de Guise, the first cardinal of Lorraine who belonged
to this family. The cardinal's lavish ways and love of pomp were proverbial, so he