This illustrated lecture via Zoom, live from France, is part of a series that traces the evolution of the French garden from the enclosed gardens of the Middle Ages, through the magnificent Renaissance gardens created by Italian gardeners in the Loire Valley for the Valois kings upon their return from the Italian Wars in the 16th century, through the Classical gardens created by André Le Nôtre for Louis XIV and his court in and around Paris in the 17th century, through the landscape jardins à l’anglaise that swept France from the late 18th through the late 19th century, and ending with the revival of the formal jardins à la française at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. After an introductory lecture to give an overview of the development of the French garden and their designers over the past 500 years, the owners and historians of six of France’s most prestigious state- and privately-owned gardens open to the public will tell the stories of how their gardens were designed – and often redesigned more than once over the centuries – evoking the key designers and historical figures and events associated with their gardens. The series will conclude with an overview of the major parks and gardens of Paris.
Between 1641 and 1661, Louis XIV’s Superintendent of Finances Nicolas Fouquet built the magnificent Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte 34 miles/55 km southeast of Paris. He hired the architect Louis Le Vau to design the château, the artist Charles Le Brun to decorate it, and the landscape architect André Le Nôtre to design its gardens and park. It was the trio’s first major collaboration and became the model for the French Baroque style, less dependent on Italian influences. The gardens of Vaux represent the pioneering work of the French formal garden, where for the first time Le Nôtre created a garden from scratch as an extension of Le Vau’s château. The garden is celebrated for its perfect symmetry and Le Nôtre’s trademark “long perspective”, defined by a central axis that disappears into the distance. Inspired by the grandeur of Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis XIV soon retained the team of Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Nôtre to build the château and gardens of Versailles.
Speaker Alexandre de Vogüé and his two brothers are the fifth generation of their family since 1875 to own the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. Alexandre spent his childhood at Vaux, went to university in Paris, and then spent the next 20 years in Chamonix and traveling the world as a professional mountain guide. In 2011 he returned to Vaux, where he is now Director of Development and President of the French and International Friends of Vaux-le-Vicomte Conservancy. Alexandre is also responsible for Vaux’s art collection. He and his brothers are co-authors of A Day at Vaux-le-Vicomte (Les Éditions Flammarion, 2015). A new book about the domain, Vaux-le-Vicomte – Private Invitation, by Guillaume Picon, was published by Les Éditions Flammarion in October 2021.
All the lectures will be in English. $20 – General admission $10 – Garden Conservancy members with code MERCIAFMM Register HERE.
