DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16633#0145
The French Garden in European Countries
125
the picture, is really in the great amount of water. From the River Derwent, which
flows past the garden, a canal of great length branched. The water in the garden
itself is all alive with great playing fountains, adorned with dolphins, and sea-gods, and
many small jets and water-devices. But m comparison with French art one misses at
Chatsworth, with all its spaciousness and many-sidedness, the unity given by straight
lines and distant views. Even the cascades can only be enjoyed when one goes outside
the house, although the ponds on the lower terrace must have been all one picture
with the glittering waters that came from the boskets. Le Notre must, it would be
thought, have laid out these gardens also; but in reality it was another Frenchman named
Grelly, who made at least the water-devices. He adorned one of the thickets with a
fountain which he directly imitated from the Marais, at that time so much admired at
Versailles. It is only made of tin, with willows painted in natural colours, pouring water
over large stones, and weeping, as it were, out of the tips of the leaves: in this fashion an
ancient idea was transplanted into a northern land. The fountain and many other objects
were preserved till after the English style set in, or possibly they may have been reinstated
by some intelligent person who was looking after the garden m the nineteenth century.
By this insistence on a garden for strolling about, which demands a less formal and
more cheerful arrangement than the French garden could allow, England was perhaps
already paving the way for that revolution in taste which was soon to occur.
Germany
Germany had to begin almost all over again from the middle of the seventeenth
century, at the end of the Thirty Years' War. The cultivation of the garden is a peaceful
art; and it was only exceptional men such as Wallenstein and Maurice of Nassau who
tried to keep the country to its peaceful occupations while they were in the midst of war,
weapons in hand. For the most part the war had left wasted lands bare of inhabitants,
but there was more than this—the tradition that was never very strong in Germany was
completely destroyed. It was just this state of things, however, that drove a generation
hungry for peace to seek for teachers whose instruction it could follow with delight. One
important factor in making garden art flourish in Germany was the increased power of
the many princelings, great and small. The feeling of sovereignty showed itself in
the second half of the seventeenth century, when prosperity was increasing, in the
creation of splendid homes. For most of the princes, especially those in the north and
west, Versailles served as a fascinating visible example. Only a few, who were interested
in Italy, took their inspiration in these days from the old forms of art on the other side
of the Alps. Le Notre's was the truly great name, and as soon as his reputation had once
extended across the Rhine, it was considered good luck to secure a garden artist who
had somehow or other got his education by actual study of the works of Le Notre.
Duke Ernst Johann Friedrich of Hanover reckoned himself one of the fortunate
ones when he secured Charbonnier, who belonged to the school of Le Notre, to lay out
his garden at Herrenhausen. The architect for the house was Quirini, a Venetian, and he
gave it an Italian look with two wings of one story, which jutted forward and showed a
flat roof with balustrades. At small German courts, we often find, as late as the middle of
125
the picture, is really in the great amount of water. From the River Derwent, which
flows past the garden, a canal of great length branched. The water in the garden
itself is all alive with great playing fountains, adorned with dolphins, and sea-gods, and
many small jets and water-devices. But m comparison with French art one misses at
Chatsworth, with all its spaciousness and many-sidedness, the unity given by straight
lines and distant views. Even the cascades can only be enjoyed when one goes outside
the house, although the ponds on the lower terrace must have been all one picture
with the glittering waters that came from the boskets. Le Notre must, it would be
thought, have laid out these gardens also; but in reality it was another Frenchman named
Grelly, who made at least the water-devices. He adorned one of the thickets with a
fountain which he directly imitated from the Marais, at that time so much admired at
Versailles. It is only made of tin, with willows painted in natural colours, pouring water
over large stones, and weeping, as it were, out of the tips of the leaves: in this fashion an
ancient idea was transplanted into a northern land. The fountain and many other objects
were preserved till after the English style set in, or possibly they may have been reinstated
by some intelligent person who was looking after the garden m the nineteenth century.
By this insistence on a garden for strolling about, which demands a less formal and
more cheerful arrangement than the French garden could allow, England was perhaps
already paving the way for that revolution in taste which was soon to occur.
Germany
Germany had to begin almost all over again from the middle of the seventeenth
century, at the end of the Thirty Years' War. The cultivation of the garden is a peaceful
art; and it was only exceptional men such as Wallenstein and Maurice of Nassau who
tried to keep the country to its peaceful occupations while they were in the midst of war,
weapons in hand. For the most part the war had left wasted lands bare of inhabitants,
but there was more than this—the tradition that was never very strong in Germany was
completely destroyed. It was just this state of things, however, that drove a generation
hungry for peace to seek for teachers whose instruction it could follow with delight. One
important factor in making garden art flourish in Germany was the increased power of
the many princelings, great and small. The feeling of sovereignty showed itself in
the second half of the seventeenth century, when prosperity was increasing, in the
creation of splendid homes. For most of the princes, especially those in the north and
west, Versailles served as a fascinating visible example. Only a few, who were interested
in Italy, took their inspiration in these days from the old forms of art on the other side
of the Alps. Le Notre's was the truly great name, and as soon as his reputation had once
extended across the Rhine, it was considered good luck to secure a garden artist who
had somehow or other got his education by actual study of the works of Le Notre.
Duke Ernst Johann Friedrich of Hanover reckoned himself one of the fortunate
ones when he secured Charbonnier, who belonged to the school of Le Notre, to lay out
his garden at Herrenhausen. The architect for the house was Quirini, a Venetian, and he
gave it an Italian look with two wings of one story, which jutted forward and showed a
flat roof with balustrades. At small German courts, we often find, as late as the middle of