202 ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



architecture and sculpture. Only the king's imagina- 

 tion and revenues could have sufficed for such trans- 

 formations. 

 LeN6treas Le Notre, however, was the actual creator of most 



leader of the 



newde- of the famous pleasure grounds of Louis' reign and the 

 originator of the new style. He was born in Paris 

 early in the seventeenth century. At first he studied 

 painting under Vouet in the studio with Mignard, Le 

 Brun, and Lesueur; then he decided to adopt his 

 father's profession and to succeed him as superinten- 

 dent of the king's gardens. To fit himself for this 

 position he travelled through Italy and carefully studied 

 the magnificent villa gardens of the late Renaissance. 

 The villas Pamphili and Ludovisi especially impressed 

 him. But while these may have been his point of 

 departure in the Italian style, the great garden archi- 

 tect soon developed a system of his own as different 

 as France from Italy, as French from Italian society, 

 and as the seventeenth from the sixteenth century. 

 The garden of Louis XIV and of Le Notre was as 

 distinct a creation as the architecture of Mansart or 

 the literature of Racine. The superstructure may have 

 been built on a classic foundation, but it developed 

 decidedly individual characteristics. 



LeNfitre's The style of Le Notre can be studied in the existing 

 gardens he laid out, in engravings from his plans, and 

 in numerous descriptions of their arrangement. These 



