Whether one likes landscape gardening or detests it is a
matter of taste. But there can be no dispute about the genius of that great landscape gardener, Andre Le Mitre, who spent a lifetime in the service of Louis XIV and whose influence is seen in many historic parks and gardens of Northern Europe, including Greenwich and Hampton Court, though he never came to England. Le Notre's life and his best-known work are fully treated in the excellent book which Mr. D. McDougall has written on Two Royal Domains of France : the Tuileries and Versailles (Cape, 15s.). The history of the famous French palaces is concisely recorded, but the author is mainly con- cerned with the gardens. The Tuileries and the gardens were created by Catherine de' Medici on Italian models, but the gardens were laid out in their present form by Le Notre. At Versailles, of course, he had a free hand and evolved the astounding park and gardens that we all know from a bare and marshy plain. It may be true that the stupendous cost of Versailles set France on the slippery slope down to bank- ruptcy, but the magnificence of the place is undeniable. The author devotes special attention to the :sculpture, of which there is a profusion. Many old prints and modern photo- graphs illustrate this delightful book, which will greatly increase the pleasure of one's next visit to Paris and Versailles.
* * C. *
Previous page
