Le Nôtre, André

(1613-1700)

   landscape architect

   André Le Nôtre, who developed the great French neoclassical style, was born in Paris. The son of the royal gardener of the Tuileries, in 1637, he became gardener to the king (1645) and later was put in charge of royal buildings. In 1649, he redesigned the gardens of the Tuileries and then, thanks to Nicolas fouquet, took over the design of the park of Vaux-le-Vicomte (finished in 1661). The creator of the garden style "à la française," he developed the park of Versailles according to a design approved by King louis XIV. Le Nôtre's work is characterized by highly formal arrangements, using such architectural features as canals, statues, fountains, ornamental urns, trimmed shrubs and trees, geometric floral terraces, and grand axial vistas, some extending for kilometers. He worked also at Clagny (near Versailles), Marly, Sceaux, Choisy, Maintenon, and Dampierre, and received numerous foreign commissions as well. As the epitome of French classicism, his style set the tone for all European landscape architecture until the end of the 18th century.