European and Japanese Gardens 



follow it. However that may be, the son showed early a fondness 

 for things beautiful, was always, from his earliest childhood, 

 about the gardens of the King, with his father, and showed an 

 aptitude for drawing as well as cultivating. At his father's 

 instance he studied painting under Simon Vouet, in whose 

 studio he met, among others, Le Sueur, Mignard and Lebrun ; 

 but his heart turned ever to the paternal calling, and his incli- 

 nation was finally so strong as not to be denied. He took up 

 the profession of gardening in the highest sense, — what we 

 call landscape architecture. It is certain that his training in a 

 studio where he came into personal relations with the leading 

 painters, sculptors and architects of his time, had a definite 

 and very powerful influence over the young man's development, 

 giving him a wider range and a truer artistic sense than even 

 his genius could have commanded otherwise. The practical 

 knowledge, which was his as a direct heritage from his father, 

 become virtually his second nature, was thus linked with the 

 broadest artistic education of his time. Beside these advant- 

 ages he possessed an intellect of great clearness and power, 



A PROMENADE IN THE TUILERIES 



