, comptroller of the royal edifices of France, and an eminent planner of gardens,
, comptroller of
the royal edifices of France, and an eminent planner of
gardens, was born at Paris in 1613. We know little of
him, except that he was brought up as a gardener under
his father, until about 1653, when he was first employed
by the superintendant Fouquet, to lay out the magnificent
gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte, celebrated by La Fontaine
in his poems. In this work he was the creator of those
porticoes, covered walks, grottoes, labyrinths, &c. which
then were thought the greatest ornaments of gardens, and
particularly gratified the taste of Louis XIV. who employed
him in the decoration of his favourite residences at Versailles, Trianon, Fontainbleau, &c. Le Nostre went to
Rome in 1678, and afterwards travelled through Italy; and
it is said he found nothing in the most celebrated gardens
equal to what he had himself executed. While at Rome,
pope Innocent XI, was desirous of seeing le Notre, and
gave him a long audience, at the conclusion of which the
latter exclaimed, “I have now seen the two greatest men
in the world your holiness, and the king, my master
”
“There is a great difference between them,
” replied the
pope “the king is a great and victorious prince, and I
am a poor priest, servant of the servants of God.
” Le
Notre, delighted with this answer, and forgetting by whom
it was made, clapped his hand on the pope’s shoulder,
saying, “My reverend father, you are in good health, and
will bury all the sacred college;
” and Le Notre, more and
more charmed with the sovereign pontiff’s kindness, and
the particular esteem he expressed for the king, fell upon
his neck, and embraced him. It was his custom thus to
embrace all who praised Louis XIV.; and he embraced that
prince himself every time he returned from the country.
He was some time in England, and, probably on the invitation of Charles II. laid out St. James’s and Greenwich
parks. In 1675, when he was again in France, his long
services were rewarded by letters of noblesse, and the cross
of St. Michael. The king would have given him a coat of
arms, but he replied that he had one already, “consisting
of three snails surmounted by a cabbage.
” At the age of
four-score he desired permission to retire, which the king
granted him, on condition that he would sometimes come
and see him. He died at Paris, in 1700, at the age of 87.
He is said to have had a fine taste for the arts in general,
especially for that of painting; and some pieces of his execution are mentioned as existing in the royal cabinet.