André Le Notre

WEEK 01

André Le Notre

Sophie Wiseman

One of the most influential figures in the art of French formal gardens was André Le Notre. 

In André's earliest years, he had a passion for painting and unknowingly this would set him up for his career later on in life. With the combination of André's father being a gardener and him working as an apprentice for Simon Vouet, Andréwas introduced to the world of landscape design. Due to his competence and sheer talent in the arts, André - at the age of 22- kickstarted his career as an employee for Louis XIII's brother, Gaston, Duke d'Orléans, in 1635.

Over the years Le Notre displayed his capability through the use of dominant straight lines and angularity in his work to create an axis to compliment the location and form of architecture on site and to produce a sense of austerity. 

His most famous gardens include: 

Gardens of Chateau de Saint Cloud

 Vaux Le Vicomte

 Chateau De Versailles

 Gardens of Palais des Tuileries 

 Gardens of Chateau de Sceaux

I find this style of work complelling and can see that is effective when wanting to produce a neat and decorative environment. I find that this research contrasts against my research about Piet Oudolf in my previous post as Oudolf uses natural patterns of vegetation and accepts the changes of form throughout the seasonal changes and utilises this as a core theme of his work however, André has a strict colour theme of mostly lush greens and strives to make gardens that demonstrate affluence. 

References 

Reconstruisonssaintcloud.fr. (2023). Reconstruisons Saint-Cloud. [online] Available at: http://www.reconstruisonssaintcloud.fr/Photographiesduchateau.html [Accessed 30 Sept. 2023].

Kothari, A. (2021). André Le Nôtre- 10 Iconic Projects. [online] RTF | Rethinking The Future. Available at: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/design-studio-portfolios/a3531-andre-le-notre-10-iconic-projects/ [Accessed 30 Sept. 2023].

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