The gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte were designed by André Le Nôtre* for Fouquet’s Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, setting the chateau as the dominant feature overlooking an immense space that measures 1,500 meters/5000 feet in length, and about one-sixth the size in width. Work on the chateau began in 1657. Le Nôtre worked in collaboration with the architect, Louis Le Vau and the painter Charles Le Brun to lay out a grand, symmetrical arrangement of parterres, pools, and gravel walks.  The focal point of the gardens are the manicured beds framing geometric fountains. The garden area is framed by shaded deciduous woods. In his innovative and imaginative work on the gardens here, the first French styled gardens, he used the laws of perspective and optical illusions to give the viewer the illusion of being able to ‘embrace’ the gardens at a glance.  Le Vau and Le Nôtre exploited the changing levels of the land across the site so that the canal is invisible from the house, using perspective to make the grottos appear closer than they are in reality. The gardens were completed in 1661, when Fouquet held a grand entertainment for the king. Only three weeks later, on September 10, 1661, Fouquet was arrested for embezzling state funds, and his artists and craftsmen were taken into the king’s service.  Le Nôtre went on to become a trusted adviser to the king, enobled by him in 1675.  The following gardens were designed by Le Nôtre:

• Gardens of Vaux de Vicomte 1657-1661

1. •The gardens of Versailles & the Plan of the City of Versailles 1661 -
   

2. •Gardens of Château de Saint Germain-en-Laye
   

3. •Gardens of Château de Saint Cloud
   

4. •Gardens of Château de Sceaux
   

5. •Gardens of Château de Fontainebleau
   

6. •Gardens of  Château  de Chantilly
   

7. •Gardens of  Château de Bercy, Charenton-le-Pont
   

8. •Gardens of Châteaude Chambonas
   

9. •Gardens of Château d’Issy
   

10. •Avenue of Château de Hauteville in Charchigné
    

• Gardens of Palais des Tuileries - redesigned the gardens and created an extension that is today the Chaps Elysee.   

*André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) was the landscape architect and principal gardener for Louis XIV of France. His father, was head gardener of the Tuileries Gardens under Louis XIII,  and  Pierre Le Nôtre, the head gardener of the Tuileries in 1572, may have been his grandfather.

PHOTOS: Left Column: 1. View of the gardens and mansard roof with stone finials as seen from the Dome. 2. Fountain in the shape of a crown. 3. Moat that surrounds the Vaux le Vicomte chateau, creating the illusion of an island. The first sound one hears upon approaching the chateau is the sound of a waterfall, with water spilling from three tiered basins into the waters of the moat. 4. Plan for the garden, designed by André Le Notre 1613-1700. Center, Top: The gardens as seen from the Dome of Vaux le Vicomte. Center, Middle: Detail: the gardens and orchard, the trees in bud during the early days of Spring. Right Column: 1. During the forty years of service as the designer of gardens of the king, Louis XIV, having contributed to the fortunes of his designer wanted to do more to ennoble him. He asked that André Le Nôtre choose a crest. The king’s garden designer, which characteristic humor and intelligence, chose his crest to be a cabbage atop three snails on a ground of sand. 2. Bust of André Le Nôtre, landscape designer of Vaux le Comte.

JOURDAN ARPELLE-ZIEGLER                                        BACK TO MAP  PAGE