European and Japanese Gardens 



and a personal character at once of winninj^'- charm and of 

 masterly strength. An individuality so marked as his would 

 have achieved greatness in almost any time or land ; small 

 wonder, then, that in a period so sympathetic with his nature as 

 was the age of Louis XIV in France, — an age of luxury, limit- 

 less expenditure, devotion to art, to pomp and to ceremony, 

 an age which played upon his own nature and formed it, and 

 in turn was played upon and formed by it, — we find him 

 accomplishing a work very exceptional in its extent and its 



THE TUILERIES AND THE LOUVRE 



variety. No doubt ne had countless assistants in his multifa- 

 rious tasks, but his spirit informs and distinguishes all the end- 

 less list of works which are counted among his masterpieces ; 

 and, in addition, the indications of his genius served to remodel, 

 and practically reconstruct, many of the gardens of an earlier 

 day, already famous, but transformed and made to blossom 

 anew under the suggestions of his enlightening imagination. 

 He stands alone for his art, through the century, which was 

 honored by his birth, and the succeeding one. He summed up 

 all that was best worth while in the garden practice of his own 

 time and that preceding it, and welded it into a consistent 

 whole, through sheer force of creative power. He invented, 

 indeed, no new kind, but he ennobled and synthesized the 



