70 



GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



Cmllon 



under the last of the Valois, and shows the extraordinary activity in chateau 

 building, that characterized a period of between fifty and sixty years of 

 comparative peace. From these designs we realize the undoubted influence 

 of the Italian taste, but not even Italy can show us so marvellous a series of 

 buildings produced within so short a space of time. 



Of this wonderful series the chateaux of Madrid, Creil, Montargis and 

 Verneuil no longer exist. The Louvre, Vincennes, Coussy, Gaillon, Blois, 

 Amboise, Fontainebleau, Villers-Cotterets, the Tuileries, Chantilly, Anet, 



are all more or less mutilated by 

 alterations and restorations. Cham- 

 bord, Ecouen, Saint Germain, Ancy- 

 le-Franc, Chenonceaux, Dampierre 

 have still ^ much of their original 

 appearance left. 



The irregular shapes of the castle 

 buildings rendered it almost impos- 

 sible for the French garden designers 

 to imitate the Italians in laying out 

 their gardens upon a main axial line 

 with the house, and the gardens illus- 

 trated by Du Cerceau are in most 

 cases designed quite irrespective of 

 the chateau, as is the case at Blois and 

 Gaillon. On the other hand, at Ancy- 

 le-Franc and Verneuil both chateau 

 and garden are designed as a whole. 

 The parterres are almost invari- 

 ably square, and the designs for the 

 flower borders of simple geometric 

 form. They are often surrounded by a low balustrade with posts supporting 

 heraldic beasts, gilt or picked out in gay colours. This craving for colour, 

 which was so characteristic a feature of the mediaeval garden, disappeared 

 in the seventeenth century, since when garden woodwork has lost consider- 

 able charm by its lack of colour. A central feature, such as a fountain or 

 sundial, often gains much when richly coloured or gilt. 



The Chateau of Gaillon (v. illus. opposite), on a hill overlooking the wind- 



A FOUNTAIN AT THE CHATEAU DE GAILLON. 



