Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun, portrait by Nicolas de Largilliere
Born	24 February 1619 (1619-02-24) Paris
Died	22 February 1690 (1690-02-23) Paris

Charles Le Brun (24 February 1619 – 22 February 1690) was a French painter and art theorist. Declared by Louis XIV "the greatest French artist of all time", he was a dominant figure in 17th-century French art.

Biography[link]

Portrait of Nicolas Le Brun by Charle Le Brun, Residenzgalerie, Salzburg

Early life and training[link]

Born in Paris, he attracted the notice of Chancellor Séguier, who placed him at the age of eleven in the studio of Simon Vouet. He was also a pupil of François Perrier. At fifteen he received commissions from Cardinal Richelieu, in the execution of which he displayed an ability which obtained the generous commendations of Nicolas Poussin, in whose company Le Brun started for Rome in 1642.

In Rome he remained four years in the receipt of a pension due to the liberality of the chancellor. There he worked under Poussin, adapting the latter's theories of art.

On his return to Paris in 1646, Le Brun found numerous patrons, of whom Superintendent Fouquet was the most important, for whom he painted a large portrait of Anne of Austria.^[1] Employed at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Le Brun ingratiated himself with Mazarin, then secretly pitting Colbert against Fouquet. Colbert also promptly recognized Le Brun's powers of organization, and attached him to his interests. Together they took control of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture (Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, 1648), and the Academy of France at Rome (1666), and gave a new development to the industrial arts.

Another project Le Brun worked on was Hôtel Lambert. The ceiling in the gallery of Hercules was painted by him. Le Brun started work on the project in 1650, shortly after his return from Italy. The decoration continued intermittently over twelve years or so, as it was interrupted by the renovation of Vaux le Vicomte.

In 1660 they established the Gobelins, which at first was a great school for the manufacture, not of tapestries only, but of every class of furniture required in the royal palaces. Commanding the industrial arts through the Gobelins—of which he was director—and the whole artistic world through the Academy—in which he successively held every post—Le Brun imprinted his own character on all that was produced in France during his lifetime. He was the originator of Louis XIV Style and gave a direction to the national tendencies which endured centuries after his death.

Success years[link]

The nature of his emphatic and pompous talent was in harmony with the taste of the king, who, full of admiration of the paintings by Le Brun for his triumphal entry into Paris (1660) and his decorations at the Château Vaux le Vicomte (1661), commissioned him to execute a series of subjects from the history of Alexander. The first of these, "Alexander and the Family of Darius," so delighted Louis XIV that he at once ennobled Le Brun (December, 1662), who was also created Premier Peintre du Roi (First Painter to His Majesty) with a pension of 12,000 livres, the same amount as he had yearly received in the service of the magnificent Fouquet. The King had declared him "the greatest French artist of all time".

From this date all that was done in the royal palaces was directed by Le Brun. In 1663, he became director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, where he laid the basis of academicism and became the all-powerful, peerless master of 17th-century French art. It was during this period that he dedicated a series of works to the history of Alexander The Great (The Battles of Alexander The Great), and he did not miss the opportunity to make a stronger connection between the magnificence of Alexander and that of the great King. While he was working on The Battles, Le Brun's style became much more personal as he moved away from the ancient masters that influenced him.

Alexander and Porus, painted 1673

The works of the gallery of Apollo in the Louvre were interrupted in 1677 when he accompanied the king to Flanders (on his return from Lille he painted several compositions in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye), and finally—for they remained unfinished at his death—by the vast labours of Versailles, where he reserved for himself the Halls of War and Peace (Salons de la Guerreand de la Paix, 1686), the Ambassadors' Staircase, and the Great Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces, 1679–1684). Le Brun's decoration is not only a work of art, it is the definitive monument of a reign.

Later years[link]

At the death of Colbert, François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, Colbert's enemy, who succeeded as superintendent in the department of public works, showed no favour to Le Brun who was Colbert's favorite, and in spite of the king's continued support Le Brun felt a bitter change in his position. This contributed to the illness which on 22 February 1690 ended in his death in his private mansion, in Paris.

Le Brun's work and legacy[link]

Chancellor Séguier and his suite, circa 1670, Musée du Louvre

Tapis de Savonnerie, under Louis XIV, after Charles Le Brun, made for the Grande Galerie in the Louvre

Le Brun primarily worked for King Louis XIV, for whom he executed large altarpieces and battle pieces. His most important paintings are at Versailles. Besides his gigantic labours at Versailles and the Louvre, the number of his works for religious corporations and private patrons is enormous. Le Brun was also a fine portraitist and an excellent draughtsman, but he was not fond of portrait or landscape painting, which he felt to be a mere exercise in developing technical prowess. What mattered was scholarly composition, whose ultimate goal was to nourish the spirit. The fundamental basis on which the director of the Academy based his art was unquestionably to make his paintings speak, through a series of symbols, costumes and gestures that allowed him to select for his composition the narrative elements that gave his works a particular depth. For Le Brun, a painting represented a story one could read. Nearly all his compositions have been reproduced by celebrated engravers.

In his posthumously published treatise, Méthode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions (1698) he promoted the expression of the emotions in painting. It had much influence on art theory for the next two centuries.

Many of his drawings are in the Louvre and the Monaco Royal Collection. He was also the teacher of painter Ludovico Dorigny.

Partial anthology of works[link]

The Assumption of the Virgin

Décorations

• Decorationof the ceiling of the Galerie d'Apollon, at the Louvre Palace.
• Decoration of the château de Vaux-le-Vicomte : King's room, Le Temps enlevant au Ciel la Vérité.
• Cupola of the Pavillon de l'Aurore at the château de Sceaux.
• Murals of the ceiling of the Galerie des Glaces, Palace of Versailles.
• Apotheosis of Romulus, cycle eight paintings for the ceiling of a room in the Hôtel d'Aumont, Paris.

Canvases

• The Sleep of Jesus, musée du Louvre.
• Chancellor Séguier and his suite musée du Louvre.
• Paintings of the Story of Alexander, musée du Louvre.
• Louis XIV presenting his sceptre and his helmet to Jesus-Christ, musée des beaux-arts de Lyon.
• Cycle of four paintings : Air, Earth, Fire and Water, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Châlons-en-Champagne.

Publications

• Méthode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions (1698), posthumous publication.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Louis XIV Equestrian Portrait, oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tournai

• 

  Entry of Alexander into Babylon, ca. 1664, oil on canvas, Louvre

• 

  Portrait of Louis XIV, 1661

• 

  Three lion-like heads, 1671, pen and wash on squared paper

• 

  Portrait of the painter Louis Testelin, ca. 1650, oil on canvas, Louvre

• 

  The fall of the rebel angels, after 1680, oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon

• 

  Louis XIV Equestrian Portrait, 1668, oil on canvas, Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai

• 

  Apotheosis of Louis XIV, 1677, oil on canvas, Magyar Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

Notes[link]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charles Le Brun

• Michel Gareau, Charles LeBrun First Painter To King Louis XIV, Abrams NY, 1992
• Morel d'Arleux, Louis-Marie-Joseph, Dissertation sur un traité de Charles Le Brun concernant le rapport de la physionomie humaine avec celle des animaux (1827)
• Pinault-Sorensen, Madeleine, De la Physionomie Humaine et Animale: Dessins de Charles Le Brun gravés pour la Chalcographie du Musée Napoleon en 1806, Musée du Louvre, (2000) (ISBN 2-7118-4094-8)
• www.CharlesLeBrun.com (website)

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Anonymous (1911). "Le Brun, Charles". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Jordi Savall
Background information
Birth name	Jordi Savall i Bernadet
Born	January 14, 1942 Igualada, Catalonia
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Gambist
Instruments	Viola da gamba, viola da braccio
Website	http://www.alia-vox.com/

Jordi Savall i Bernadet (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈʒɔrði səˈβaʎ]; born January 14, 1942, in Igualada, Catalonia) is a Catalan viol player, conductor and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol (viola da gamba) back to life on the stage. His characteristic repertory ranges from Medieval to Renaissance and Baroque music, though he has occasionally ventured into the classical or even the romantic period.

Musical education[link]

Savall's musical training started at the age of six in the school choir of his native town (1947–55). After completion of training at the Barcelona Conservatory of Music (1959–65), he specialised in early music, collaborating with Ars Musicae Barcelona of Enric Gispert and studying under August Wenzinger at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland (1968–70). In 1974 he succeeded Wenzinger as professor of viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Ensembles[link]

In 1974 he formed the ensemble Hespèrion XX (known since 2000 as Hespèrion XXI), together with the soprano Montserrat Figueras (his wife, who died in 2011), Lorenzo Alpert and Hopkinson Smith. Hespèrion XX favoured a style of interpretation characterised by great musical vitality and, at the same time, ultimate historical accuracy.

Jordi Savall with viol

In 1987 he returned to Barcelona to found La Capella Reial de Catalunya, a vocal ensemble devoted to music from before the 18th century.

In 1989 Savall created Le Concert des Nations, an orchestra which is generally dedicated to music from the baroque period, but sometimes also performs music from the classical or romantic repertoire (e.g. Sinfonía Grande Orquesta by Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga).

More recently, Savall has performed with his family. The Savall family ensemble has included Jordi Savall's late wife, Montserrat Figueras, and their two children, Arianna and Ferran. Arianna Savall plays the harp and sings, like her mother. Ferran Savall plays the theorbo (bass lute) and sings (not only with his family but also in jazz clubs in Barcelona).^[1]

Recordings[link]

Savall's discography includes more than 100 recordings. Originally recording with EMI Classics, and then from 1975 with the Astrée label of Michel Bernstein, since 1998 he has released his records under his own label, Alia Vox.^[2]

Honours and awards[link]

In 2000 Savall was awarded the Premi d'Honor Lluís Carulla, given for service to Catalan culture or for scientific, cultural or civic works in the Catalan language.

He was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa degree by the University of Barcelona on 27 November 2006.

He was twice nominated for a Grammy, and won the 2011 Grammy Award for 'Best Small Ensemble Performance' for Dinastia Borja. Església i poder al Renaixement.

In 2008 Savall was appointed a European Union ambassador for intercultural dialogue. In June 2008 he and his wife, Montserrat Figueras, were named "Artists for Peace" by UNESCO.^[3]

In February, 2009 he received the Handel Music Prize from the city of Halle, Germany, and the National Music Prize from the National Council of Music and Arts of Catalonia. In 2010, he was given the Praetorius Musikpreis Niedersachsen and a MIDEM Classical Award, for his album "Jerusalem –La ville des deux Paix: La paix céleste et la paix terrestre."^[4]

In 2012 Savall was awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize.^[5]

Filmography[link]

Savall adapted and performed music for the 1991 Alain Corneau film, Tous les matins du monde. His work on this film earned him a César award from the French film industry in 1992. The soundtrack has sold more than a million copies worldwide.

As a composer, Jordi Savall has written music for the following films:

• (1991) Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) by Alain Corneau
• (1993) El Pajaro de la felicidad (The Bird of Happiness) by Pilar Miró
• (1993) Joan the Maiden, Part 1: The Battles by Jacques Rivette
• (1994) Joan the Maiden, Part 2: The Prisons by Jacques Rivette
• (1997) Hosszú alkony (i.e. Long Dusk) by Attila Janisch
• (1997) Marquise by Vera Belmont
• (1998) Top Secret by Jacques Rivette

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jordi Savall

• Alia-vox.com, Jordi Savall's official website.
• Complete discography at Medieval.org
• The private website Classic @ la carte is devoted primarily to Jordi Savall's works.
• Misteria Paschalia Festival
• [2]

Charles Gounod

Charles-François Gounod (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl fʁɑ̃swa ɡuno]; 17 June 1818 – 17 October^[1][2] or 18 October^[3][4] 1893) was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.

Biography[link]

Charles Gounod in 1859, the year of the premiere of Faust

Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher. Under her tutelage, Gounod first showed his musical talents. He entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Fromental Halévy and Pierre Zimmermann (he later married Zimmermann's daughter). In 1839, he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. He was following his father; François-Louis Gounod (d. 1823) had won the second Prix de Rome in painting in 1783.^[4] During his stay of four years in Italy, Gounod studied the music of Palestrina and other sacred works of the sixteenth century; these he never ceased to cherish. Around 1846-47 he gave serious consideration to joining the priesthood, but he changed his mind before actually taking holy orders, and went back to composition.^[5] During that period, he was attached to the Church of Foreign Missions in Paris.

In 1854, Gounod completed a Messe Solennelle, also known as the Saint Cecilia Mass. This work was first performed, in its entirety, for the church of Saint Eustache in Paris on Saint Cecilia's Day, November 22, 1855; from this rendition dates Gounod's fame as a noteworthy composer.

Gounod late in his career.

During 1855 Gounod wrote two symphonies. His Symphony No. 1 in D major was the inspiration for the Symphony in C, composed later that year by Georges Bizet, who was then Gounod's 17-year-old student. In the CD era a few recordings of these pieces have emerged: by Michel Plasson conducting the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, and by Sir Neville Marriner with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, introduced the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach to Gounod, who came to revere Bach. For him, The Well-Tempered Clavier was "the law to pianoforte study...the unquestioned textbook of musical composition". It inspired Gounod to devise an improvisation of a melody over the C major Prelude (BWV 846) from the collection's first book. To this melody, in 1859 (after the deaths of both Mendelssohn siblings), Gounod fitted the words of the Ave Maria, resulting in a setting that became world-famous.^[6]

Gounod wrote his first opera, Sapho, in 1851, at the urging of a friend of his, the singer Pauline Viardot; it was a commercial failure. He had no great theatrical success until Faust (1859), derived from Goethe. This remains the composition for which he is best known; and although it took a while to achieve popularity, it became one of the most frequently staged operas of all time, with no fewer than 2,000 performances of the work having taken place by 1975 at the Paris Opéra alone, not counting other theatres.^[7] The romantic and melodious Roméo et Juliette (based on the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet), premiered in 1867, is revived now and then but has never come close to matching Faust's popular following. Mireille, first performed in 1864, has been admired by connoisseurs rather than by the general public. The other Gounod operas have fallen into oblivion.

Caricature from Punch, 1882

From 1870 to 1874 Gounod lived in England. In 17 Morden Road, Blackheath. A blue plaque has been put up on the house to show where he lived.^[8] He became the first conductor of what is now the Royal Choral Society. Much of his music from this time is vocal. He became entangled with the amateur English singer Georgina Weldon,^[9] a relationship (platonic, it seems) which ended in great acrimony and embittered litigation.^[10] Gounod had lodged with Weldon and her husband in London's Tavistock House.

Later in his life, Gounod returned to his early religious impulses, writing much sacred music. His Pontifical Anthem (Marche Pontificale, 1869) eventually (1949) became the official national anthem of Vatican City. He expressed a desire to compose his Messe à la mémoire de Jeanne d'Arc (1887) while kneeling on the stone on which Joan of Arc knelt at the coronation of Charles VII of France.^[4] A devout Catholic, he had on his piano a music-rack in which was carved an image of the face of Jesus.

He was made a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur in July 1888.^[4] In 1893, shortly after he had put the finishing touches to a requiem written for his grandson, he died of a stroke in Saint-Cloud, France.

One of Gounod's short pieces for piano, "Funeral March of a Marionette", received a new and unexpected lease of life from 1955 when it was first used as the theme for the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The March was one of the eight records that Alfred Hitchcock selected to take to his desert island when he appeared on the BBC radio program Desert Island Disks in 1959.^[11] The March had earlier been used to produce equally suspenseful moments in F. W. Murnau's American silent film, "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" (1927) and Harold Lloyd's first sound film, Welcome Danger (1929).^[12]

Gounod's secular piano-accompanied songs were numerous and much praised by Ravel, but are seldom heard in recitals today.

Compositions[link]

Media[link]

References[link]

Sources[link]

• "Charles Gounod: Works". Charles GOUNOD: The Website !. http://www.charles-gounod.com/vi/oeuvres/index.htm. Retrieved 31 March 2005. 
• Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, [vol. # 7].
• Scholes. The Oxford Companion to Music, 10th ed., pp. 416–417.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charles Gounod

Portraits[link]

• Charles-Octave Blanchard, oil on canvas, Rome, 1841, Musée de la Vie romantique, Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, Paris
• Ary Scheffer, oil on canvas, Paris, ca. 1858, Musée national du château et des Trianons de Versailles, Château de Versailles

Articles[link]

• Works by Charles Gounod at Project Gutenberg
•  "Charles-François Gounod". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gounod, Charles François". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Sheet music[link]

• Free scores by Charles Gounod in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Charles Gounod at the International Music Score Library Project
• Score of "Chants sacrés: 60 motets avec accompt. d’orgue ou piano pour messes, saluts, mariages, offices divers" From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Free scores by Charles Gounod in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free sheet music on Cantorion.org
• Free scores at the Mutopia Project

Recordings[link]

• Gounod cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Roméo et Juliette Complete MP3 Creative Commons Recording
• Performance of Ave Maria
• Free Mp3 file of the Fantasie elegante on Gounod's "Faust" by Ignace Leybach, played by John Kersey
• Sound-bites from String Quartet in A minor & short bio

André Le Nôtre
A portrait of André Le Nôtre by Carlo Maratta.
Born	12 March 1613 Paris
Died	15 September 1700 Paris
Nationality	French
Field	Landscape architecture, gardening
Works	Palace of Versailles

André Le Nôtre (12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700, occasionally rendered as André Le Nostre)^[1] was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. Most notably, he was responsible for the design and construction of the park of the Palace of Versailles, and his work represents the height of the French formal garden style, or jardin à la française.

Prior to working on Versailles, Le Nôtre collaborated with Louis Le Vau and Charles Le Brun on the park at Vaux-le-Vicomte. His other works include the design of gardens and parks at Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Saint-Cloud, and Saint-Germain. His contribution to planning was also significant: at the Tuileries he extended the westward vista, which later became the avenue of the Champs-Élysées and comprise the Axe historique.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

André Le Nôtre was born in Paris, into a family of gardeners. Pierre Le Nôtre, who was in charge of the gardens of the Palais des Tuileries in 1572, may have been his grandfather.^[3] André's father Jean Le Nôtre was also responsible for sections of the Tuileries gardens, initially under Claude Mollet, and later as head gardener, during the reign of Louis XIII. André was born on 12 March 1613, and was baptised at the Église Saint-Roch. His godfather at the ceremony was an administrator of the royal gardens, and his godmother was the wife of Claude Mollet.

The family lived in a house within the Tuilieries, and André thus grew up surrounded by gardening, and quickly acquired both practical and theoretical knowledge. The location also allowed him to study in the nearby Palais du Louvre, part of which was then used as an academy of the arts. He learned mathematics, painting and architecture, and entered the atelier of Simon Vouet, painter to Louis XIII, where he met and befriended the painter Charles Le Brun. He learned classical art and perspective, and studied for several years under the architect François Mansart, a friend of Le Brun.

Gardens of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte

Career[link]

In 1635 Le Nôtre was named the principal gardener of the king's brother Gaston, duc d'Orléans. On 26 June 1637, Le Nôtre was appointed head gardener at the Tuileries, taking over his father's position.^[4] He had primary responsibiity for the areas of the garden closest to the palace, including the orangery built by Simon Bouchard.^[5] In 1643 he was appointed "draughtsman of plants and terraces" for Anne of Austria, the queen mother, and from 1645 to 1646 he worked on the modernisation of the gardens of the Château de Fontainebleau.

He was later put in charge of all the royal gardens of France, and in 1657 he was further appointed Controller-General of the Royal Buildings. There are few direct references to Le Nôtre in the royal accounts, and Le Nôtre himself seldom wrote down his ideas or approach to gardening. He expressed himself purely through his gardens.^[6] He became a trusted advisor to Louis XIV, and in 1675 he was ennobled by the King. He and Le Brun even accompanied the court at the siege of Cambrai in 1677.^[7]

In 1640 he married Françoise Langlois. They had three children, although none survived to adulthood.

Vaux-le-Vicomte[link]

André Le Nôtre's first major garden design was undertaken for Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's Superintendent of Finances. Fouquet began work on the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte in 1657, employing the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun, and Le Nôtre. The three designers worked in partnership, with Le Nôtre laying out a grand, symmetrical arrangement of parterres, pools, and gravel walks. Le Vau and Le Nôtre exploited the changing levels across the site, so that the canal is invisible from the house, and employed forced perspective to make the grotto appear closer than it really is. The gardens were complete by 1661, when Fouquet held a grand entertainment for the king. But only three weeks later, on 10 September 1661, Fouquet was arrested for embezzling state funds, and his artists and craftsmen were taken into the king's service.

Versailles[link]

Plan view of the gardens of Versailles

From 1661, Le Nôtre was working for Louis XIV to build and enhance the garden and parks of the Château de Versailles. Louis extended the existing hunting lodge, eventually making it his primary residence and seat of power. Le Nôtre also laid out the radiating city plan of Versailles, which included the largest avenue yet seen in Europe, the Avenue de Paris.

In the following century, the Versailles design influenced Pierre Charles L'Enfant’s master plan for Washington, D.C.^[8] See, L'Enfant Plan.

Other gardens[link]

France[link]

In 1661 Le Nôtre was also working on the gardens at Fontainebleau. In 1663 he was engaged at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and Château de Saint-Cloud, residence of Philippe d'Orléans, where he would oversee works for may years. Also from 1663, Le Nôtre was engaged at Château de Chantilly, property of the Prince de Condé, where he worked with his nephew Pierre Desgots until the 1680s. From 1664 he was rebuilding the gardens of the Tuileries, at the behest of Colbert, Louis's chief minister, who still hoped the king would remain in Paris. In 1667 Le Nôtre extended the main axis of the gardens westward, creating the avenue which would become the Champs-Elysées. Colbert commissioned Le Nôtre in 1670, to alter the gardens of his own château de Sceaux, which was ongoing until 1683.

Abroad[link]

In 1662 he provided designs for Greenwich Park in London, for Charles II of England. In 1670 Le Nôtre conceived a project for the Castle of Racconigi in Italy, and between 1674 and 1698 he remodelled the gardens of Venaria Reale, near Turin. In 1679, he visited Italy. His later advice was provided for Charlottenburg Palace and château de Cassel in Germany, and with plans for Windsor Castle.

Final works[link]

Bust of André Le Nôtre on the Garden of the Tuileries

Between 1679 and 1691, he was involved in the planning of the gardens of Château de Meudon for François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis.

His work has often been favorably compared and contrasted ("the antithesis") to the œuvre of Lancelot "Capability" Brown, the English landscape architect.^[8][9]

List of principal gardens by Le Nôtre[link]

17th-century engraving of the gardens of Chantilly

See also[link]

• French Baroque and Classicism
• Baroque architecture

French garden design history:

• Gardens of the French Renaissance
• Garden à la française
• French landscape garden

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Garrigues, Dominique (2001) (in French). Jardins et jardiniers de Versailles au Grand Siècle. Editions Champ Vallon. ISBN 2-87673-337-4. 
• Guiffrey, Jules (1986). André Le Nostre (1613-1700). Book Guild. ISBN 0-86332-151-8. 
• Mariage, Thierry (1999). The World of André Le Nôtre. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. xi. ISBN 0-8122-3468-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=c_HHAhD92gQC&lpg=PP1. 

Further reading[link]

• Thompson, Ian. The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, André Le Nôtre And the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 1-58234-631-3).
  • Reviewed by Peter Parker in the Telegraph, October 1, 2006.
  • Reviewed by John Adamson in the Telegraph, 2006.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: André Le Nôtre

• André Le Nôtre, website of the Ministry of Culture and of Communication (in French and English)
• André Le Nôtre, biography from gardenvisit.com, landscape architecture and garden guide
• André le Nôtre, french biography, pictures and video