Andre Le Norte Research Paper

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Andre Le Norte is considered the greatest garden and landscape designer from France. He was born in Paris, France in 1613 into a whole family of gardeners. He was married to Francoise
Langlois and had 3 children. Andre grew up surrounded by the gardening of his grandfather and father which made him quickly acquired to practical and theoretical knowledge. He lived within the city of Tuileries which allowed him to study at Palais du Louvre, and academy of the arts. At the school he became highly educated in mathematics, architecture, and landscape. At the school he made several connections and was able to study under the architect Francois Mansart for many years.
In 1637, Andre took over his father’s position as head gardener at Tuileries …show more content…

Andre didn’t believe in writing down his gardening ideas and would only ultimately express himself though his gardens.
Andre Le Norte’s first major garden design was the Vaux-Le-Vicomte which he worked on with a team of other architects. The idea of this garden was to make a large symmetrical arrangement of parterres, pools, and walkways. He also implemented “forced perspective” into his designs so that things would appear closer than they really are. The final garden was completed in 1661.
Le Norte next designed the most famous garden in the world today, the Chateau de
Versailles. Andre designed Versailles as the center of the government for the monarch, Louis
XIV. The Chateau is an example of the French Baroque style. He designed it with huge parterres, an orangery, large fountains, ornamental groves, and a canal. Versailles also includes the largest avenue in Europe, the Avenue de Paris. This was a different garden then Le Norte was used to, he had to refine his gardening concepts and was a fine example of advanced topiary work. He created a play on shadows and sunlight by alternating shady places, the groves, and the parterres.
Andre Le Norte worked on a number of other big gardening projects in France.

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