Lenôtre, André

Lenôtre, André 

(also A. Le Nôtre, A. Le Nostre). Born Mar. 12, 1613, in Paris; died there Sept. 15, 1700. French landscape architect. Son of J. Lenôtre—the head gardener of the Tuileries.

In 1657, Louis XIV appointed Lenôtre the contrôleur général de bâtiments du roi. Beginning in 1653, Lenôtre supervised the work on the grounds of the Château Vaux le Vicomte. In the 1660’s he planned the royal gardens at Saint-Germain, Fontainebleau, Chantilly, Saint-Cloud, and the Tuileries (Paris). Lenôtre was in England in 1662, where he designed St. James’s Park in London and the park in Greenwich. He also designed the gardens at Versailles.

Lenôtre developed the Italian Renaissance principles of geometric garden planning and pruning of trees and shrubs. Combining classicist rationalism with a baroque treatment of space, he created the jardin français style. In front of the palace a parterre was laid out, with mirrorlike pools and fountains. A formal grid of avenues of trees provided an extensive vista. Lenôtre’s system dominated European park design until the middle of the 18th century.

REFERENCES

Ganay, E. de. André Le Nostre. Paris, 1962.