The French landscape designer André Le Nôtre, best known for his work and designs for Louis the XIV palace Versailles, utilized classical elements in every nock and cranny of each and every landscape he designed. He employed the classical style garden, French architectural or Formal style garden, were man was dominant over nature. "The classical garden took form in an age when man imposed precise patterns of his own making on mankind as well as on the landscape..." (H. Fox, 20). The gardens were strict and contrived, it is obvious that the gardens were altered and groomed by man. Le Nôtre, born into a royal French landscape family in 1613, was destined to be a huge success; He was a third generation landscapist and was initiated into the practice of landscape design at an early age by his grandfather (Pierre) and his father (Jean) (F. Hazlehurst, grove art). Le Notre education and training was the epitome of a classical and academic training, he followed the "proper training of a gardener set by Boyceau and studied painting and architecture with Simon Vouet and Francois Mansart." (F. Hazlehurst, grove art). Le Nôtre also learned about optical illusion, which he utilized throughout his successful career as a royal garden designer. This paper will focus on two of Le Nôtre's designs in particular, Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, and Versailles. Each design excellently exemplifies André Le Nôtre's reliance on classical ideas and the dominance of man over nature to create a harmonious and picturesque sprawling landscape.

The monumental gardens that Le Notre designed possessed a typical and standard form, the gardens were very geometric and mathematical and utilized the technique of optical illusion to create the desired effect and play on the eye of a vast, sprawling landscape (H. Fox). Le Nôtre gardens were manipulated and "constructed garden, Paradise itself...controlling every inch of space to the visible horizon and, by Cartesian projection, 'indefinitely' beyond it." (V. Scully, 10). Le Nôtre created tiers, walls, waterways and pools to create optical illusions of infinite space. Usually Le Nôtre was not restricted to a limited space, but had unlimited space at his disposal, even though he had unlimited space he would still utilize optical illusions to create his masterpieces. Le Nôtre had a standard plan that he followed when creating a design. The classical scheme that he employed for his designs were used over and over again in each garden, the gardens all relied on the same basic standard plan. He would draw the chateau or main house into the landscape and use it as a focal point for the design. In the 17^th century landscape and garden designs "house and garden were indivisible and complemented each other." (H. Fox, 20). The designs laid out by Le Nôtre always had a main axis leading towards the façade of the chateau, and the "central axis was bisected at intervals by transverse axes in the form of walks, pools and canals." (F. Hazlehurst, grove art). The main axis would be the 'spine' of the plan, which would extend along the main avenue, even though there were many deviations off the main path (F. Hazlehurst, grove art).

gardener, by contrast, gives rein to his fantasy. Order, clarity, simplicity, symmetry, amplitude are the rules applied by Le Nôtre in the creation of his gardens..." (V. Scully, 8)

This type of strict plan of harmony and balance between buildings and landscape was a key element in Le Nôtre's plans as well as a leading aspect of classical landscape design.

Le Nôtre was credited with creating a set of rules for gardens, as written down by one of his pupils Alexander Le Blond in La theorie et la pratique du jardinage 1739. The book laid out the rules and 'grammar' of gardens. The rules of Le Notre's gardens became to be known as the classical scheme (H. Fox, 70). The rules are as follows:

"The garden must be in harmony with the conformation of the land, that is, in accord with the situation whether it is in the mountains, on the seashore or in a desert such as the American Southwest; it must be planned for the climate, in terms of whether it is hot or cold, damp or dry, or combinations of these; it must form a unit with the house, harmonizing with its proportions as well as its size and style...the garden should be one-third longer than wide, and that one feature should always be balanced by another, such as wood by parterre. There should be variety, and no designs in the beds should be repeated. Statues should look inevitable, canals should be used in low places, and woods should be planted on the sides and tat the back of the house. Moreover, planting should be done in terms of how it would look twenty years later..." (H. Fox, 70-72)

From these rules stemmed Le Nôtre's unique, yet very ordered and structured gardens. This set of rules was later applied to gardens to explain when something went wrong and was consulted to create the ideal garden landscape. (H. Fox, 70)

The classical idea of beauty and creating the perfect image by complying every 'perfect' aspect of nature was used full heartedly by André Le Nôtre in his landscape designs. Every detail was in harmony and perfect proportion to one another, and everything was on a monumental scale. The landscapes were a visual reference of Mans dominations over nature and the creation of the ideal. In Le Notre's landscapes, buildings accentuated the beauty of the landscape, although contrived and manipulated, and vise versa the landscape accentuated the buildings. Although the landscape was very important, "architectural features such as pavilions, stairways, balustrades and statues were considered the most important ornaments in the gardens, and living plants were treated as subsidiary furniture." (H. Fox, 20).

The shrubs, flowers and trees were "pruned to follow geometric shapes, and flowers were trimmed to provide lines or sections of color...outlines of ponds were carried out from designs first drawn on paper with a ruler and compass." (H. Fox, 20). In all of Le Nôtre's plans he incorporated and focused on statues and architectural devices to create his 'classical beauty' with nature. These mathematical and geometric designs that Le Nôtre designed stemmed from his academic training and the interest of the French Academies emphasis on line as the key element to an artistic career. He incorporates the use of line into every aspect of his planning and relies heavily on mathematical proportions and line to create his desired effect of infinite space. Now we will look at how Le Nôtre applied and adapted his standard plan to each of the above-mentioned chateaus.

André Le Nôtre's first major work, Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, was in collaboration with Louis le Vau, and Charles Le Brun, shows his excellent skills as a classical landscape designer. The geographical landscape of Vaux-le-Vicomte is flat with expansive green fields. To over come the flatness of the geographical site, Le Nôtre chose to create optical illusions to create the Ideal landscape.

The Grotto and main parks are to the left and back of the chateau and the main avenue to the chateau is to the right

The flat fields had been were geometricized to fit into the landscape; the shrubs trimmed and planted in patterns to show the "rescued landscape from nature's wild" (V. Scully, 20). The actual geometric lay out of the gardens shows Le Nôtre's goal of harmony, clarity and balance. He strived very hard to balance the gardens to fit the harmony and grandeur of the chateau. Le Nôtre employed optical illusions to make the vast gardens actually seem smaller and more inviting them they were. He encouraged the visitors to explore and veer off of the main path by having "openings and exists from one garden to the next..." (H. Fox, 67). A characteristic of Le Nôtre's garden designs was the leveled terraces. These terraces created the optical illusion that the chateau was not diminishing in size, even though the distance between viewer and chateau was growing, but that it remained the main focus of the grand estate. The optical illusions used at Vaux-le-Vicomte were not only to enhance the beauty of the garden and chateau, but also created for practical endeavors; the terraces were gradually "sloped for the sake of drainage though they appeared to be level" (H. Fox, 67).

Incorporated into the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Le Nôtre situated a grotto and canal as the final climax of the garden. The grotto was the balance to the chateau, it could be seen from anywhere in the garden (I will refer to it as a park from now on), it was a beckoning point for exploration. The grotto's large niches were filled with monumental reclining classical sculptures. The canal and cascades could not be seen from the chateau, but could be heard throughout the garden, this was an encouraging device for the walker to keep exploring the gardens until they reached the grand finale. From the terrace above the grotto, as well as from the chateau's terrace, the whole park could be seen and the order and harmony of the design could be appreciated. The carefully sculpted parterre beds, pools and avenues showed Le Nôtre's control over nature and the geometric design that he had created. Every aspect of the park was perfect and in complete harmony with every other element. Nothing was over shadowed by another, but complemented one another.

Versailles was André Le Nôtre's grand master piece, he had unlimited space to create the most massive, yet controlled park of the 17^th century and for decades to come.

At Versailles le Notre, again utilized his standard plan of a central axis with the palace as the focal point and diverging side avenues, to create the ideal and perfect park. Versailles optical illusions were so dramatic that from the main terrace of the palace you could no see most of the park, the park is multi leveled with the palace raised above the park itself. Each level the promenader descends brings a new and magnificent small park. "...The promenader realizes that the garden, which had appeared relatively flat when viewed from the building, is in reality marked by a series of descending levels, which, once discovered, reveal hitherto concealed embellishments in the form of stairways, pools and sculptures." (F. Hazlehurst, grove art). The main avenue is an optical illusion itself, when riding up the avenue the viewer is struck by an impressive view of the palace, but to get to the palace they actually have to ride through the many small parks even though it appears that the main avenue runs straight into the façade of the palace. In actuality the avenue splits around pools, terraces and parterre. The parterre of Versailles is grand feats of controlled nature. The shrubs are sculpted into geometric designs every aspect of the parterre's depict the classical idea of beauty.

The gardens are controlled and ruled by man, the best parts of nature were improved on to create the ideal. The parterre is incorporated with pools and fountains to create a more impressive display of nature at its most beautiful. Versailles was in its best, an impressive conquering of chaotic nature and civilizing it. Every aspect is controlled and carefully manicured, the trees were cut to focus on the palace, the sculpted parterre emphasized the intricate design of the façade and the fountains and pools tied all elements together to create a unity of parts and a magnificent complex.

Versailles was no small undertaking it took Le Nôtre 33 years, hundreds of workers and a thousands hours to complete. Transforming the harsh landscape of the original hunting cabin into the classical idea for beauty was nothing short of a miracle. The original land was described as a, "unhealthy, swampy site, which had no view and almost not water..." (H. Fox, 75). This unfit land was manipulated and crafted into a magnificent example of classical beauty; it was man over nature, where man was the ultimate victor. Le Nôtre stuck to his rules for creating the perfect 'classical landscape'; he situated the park to fit in with the landscape to best catch all the beauty that nature had to offer. The lie of the land sloped west and he created "board terraces to catch the sun during damp, cool winter months; shaded woods with splashing fountains for the sake of coolness on hot summer days; and out of door ballrooms and concert halls to provide a setting for entertainment, while dramatic stairways furnished backgrounds for the pageant like parties." (H. Fox, 80). Throughout the park Le Nôtre incorporated classical architecture, sculpture, vases and pedestals to draw connections between the glory of the Sun King and the magnificent of the classical Greek and Roman rulers and gods, such as with the fountain of Apollo. The fountain is a representation of Louis XIV and his connection to the gods and glory of the ancients.

The wide vistas of the park and its continuation to the horizon was a "pathway to heaven" which "expressed the limitless power of the King..." (H. Fox, 84). Louis the XIV used the magnificent domination of nature at Versailles as a connection to his divine right to rule and also the power and civilization of France. Le Nôtre used the park to display his skill and love of the order, harmony and clarity of the classical Idea.

Le Nôtre's classical schemes and desire to create gardens were harmony and order prevailed over nature cannot be better displayed then in his grand works of Vaux-le-Vicomte, and Versailles. In these garden parks Le Nôtre employed a standard set plan. Le Nôtre reviled in the fact of knowing that he had transformed an uninhabitable and harsh landscape into a spectacular and "flawless landscape". (F. Hazlehurst, grove art) His gardens could be compared to a virtual heaven on earth, everything was perfect, ordered, controlled and in harmony with everything else. Nothing was out of place; his designs epitomized the classical ideal of beauty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

S. Taylor: 'Desgots', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, L. Macy (Accessed 28 January 2003) http://www.groveart.com

F. Hazlehurst: 'Le Nôtre [Le Nostre], André', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, L. Macy (Accessed 28 January 2003) http://www.groveart.com

I. Dunlop: 'Vaux-le-Vicomte, chateau of', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, L. Macy (Accessed 4 February 2003) http://www.groveart.com

F. H. Hazlehurst: Gardens of Illusion: The Genius of André Le Nostre (Nashville, 1980)

H. M. Fox: André Le Nôtre Garden Architect to Kings (New York)

V. Scully: The Designs of André Le Nôtre: French Royal Gardens (New York, 1992)

Autum Matysek Snyder