The “English” style garden arrived in France shortly after the end of the Seven Years War (1756-1763). The so-called “jardins anglais” or “jardins à l’anglaise” emulated the natural character of English landscape gardens such as Stowe or Blenheim, but on a much reduced scale and with a greater degree of eclecticism and whimsy. A dramatic break with the French Classical tradition, such “irregular” style gardens often combined a naturalistic topography with exotic structures, romantic ruins or antique temples and monuments. They embodied an ideal of nature artistically “improved”. Early examples of jardins à l’anglaise in France include Ermenonville, the Parc Monceau then on the outskirts of Paris, the Château de Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne, and the Hameau de la Reine (the Queen’s Hamlet) at the Petit Trianon in Versailles, but the two most extensive landscape gardens, complete with follies and picturesque features – parcs à fabriques – were the Désert de Retz near Versailles and the Château de Méréville in the Essonne department south of Paris. The Château de Méréville was built by the financier Jean-Joseph de Laborde between 1784 and 1794. The park’s Romantic – sometimes called Anglo-Chinese – style soon replaced the more formal and symmetrical Classical gardens of the 17^th century as the principal gardening style both in France and throughout Europe. 

Speaker Gabriel Wick, who gave last week’s talk about the Gardens of Versailles, is a Paris-based landscape historian, writer and curator. He is an adjunct lecturer in architectural and urban history at the Paris campus of New York University. He received his doctorate in history from the University of London (QMUL) in 2017, and holds masters degrees in landscape architecture from UC Berkeley and historic landscape conservation from the National Architecture School of Versailles (ÉNSA – Versailles). He is the author of a number of books and scholarly articles on 18^th French landscapes, including Le Domaine de Méréville – Renaissance d’un Jardin (Éditions des Falaises, 2018). He is currently consulting with the Foundation Chambrun on the conservation management plan of the Marquis de Lafayette’s domain of La Grange-Bléneau.   

This program is presented by Alliance Française Miami Metro in partnership with the Alliance Française Chicago with communication support from the Federation of Alliances Françaises USA, the French Heritage Society, the Garden Conservancy, the Historic Gardens Foundation, and WICE. $10 for members of a sponsoring organization, $20 for nonmembers. Register HERE. Garden Conservancy members use code MERCIAFMM. The program is presented in English.