94 



GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



It is difficult to fix the exact date when Le Notre was first employed 

 at Versailles, but it is probable that he submitted his preliminary sketches 

 to the King soon after 1662. About this time the spoliation of Fouquet's 

 garden was proceeding apace ; during the previous winter no less than 1,200 

 trees were transplanted from Vaux and the greater part of the statuary 

 there was removed, and became the nucleus of the superb collection of 

 sculpture for which the gardens soon became famous. 



Between 1662 and 1663 a commencement was made, by altering Boyceau's 

 parterre de broderie, and preparing the huge artificial plateau which is now 

 known as the parterre d''eau maintained by a gigantic semi-circular earth- 

 work, known in later years as the rampe de Latone. An engraving of Sil- 



VIEW FROM THE TERRACE AT VERSAILLES. 



vestre (p. 95) shows the ramp with the fountain of Latona, and the palace in 

 its second stage before the long wings had been added on both sides. In the 

 same year the central walk, or Allee Royale, was laid out, but it was after- 

 wards widened and extended and named the Tapis vert, terminating in a 

 small pond that later became the Bassin d'Apollon (illus., p. 100). By 1665 

 the principal lines of the garden had been established, and up to this date 

 the enormous sum of 1,500,000 livres had been spent upon the works. 

 The brothers Francini were busily employed in constructing their first 

 hydraulic effort, " The Grotto of Tethys " dedicated to the " Glory of the 

 Sun," a most beautiful construction carried out in perfect taste en rocaille. 

 The grotto existed only for a few years and was destroyed in 1686. 



