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André Le Nôtre
1613-1700
He is credited with inventing the formal French garden. As gardener to King Louis XIV from 1645 until his death, André Le Nôtre established a way of shaping space, built on perspectives, symmetry, and water features, that spread throughout Europe.
Born into a family of gardeners at the Tuileries, he began his career in the service of Gaston d'Orléans in 1635, before purchasing a position as counselor and controller general of the king's buildings in 1657. Ennobled by Louis XIV in 1675, he received the Order of Saint-Michel, followed by the Order of Saint-Lazare.
His most famous projects include the gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte (1656-1661), those of Versailles (1662-1687), and the Tuileries garden. He also worked at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Cloud, and Sceaux, all just outside Paris.
At Chantilly, he designed a vast park for the Grand Condé, whose Grand Canal, dug between 1671 and 1673 by channeling the Nonette River, remains its most spectacular feature.
