Château de Villandry: Gardens (Villandry, France) : Chateau, looking south over the canal which comes from the upper water garden, with the Garden of Love on the left
- Creator:
- unknown (French)
- Published/Created:
- Villandry, Centre, France
1924 (restoration); ca. 12th century - Date Depicted:
- 8/1/1999
500 AD - 1499 AD - Notes:
- French château and garden in the département of Indre-et-Loire, 17 km south-west of Tours. In 1906 Dr Joachim Carvallo (1869-1936) purchased the 12th-century château. He intended to restore the grounds in the style of a 16th-century French garden; despite its axial alignment and symmetrical plan, however, his work (completed ca. 1924) does not represent a historical reconstruction. He planned the garden as a series of three terraces set at right-angles to the château, which is located in the lower north-east corner of the grounds. Water for the garden is supplied by an ornamental pool at the highest level; this flows into a canal across the garden and encircles the château by means of a reconstructed moat. The canal divides the site and provides a vertical axis, whereas the two avenues bisecting it create east-west axes that further distinguish the different levels of the garden. As Woodbridge (1978) pointed out, in contrast to an ideal Renaissance design, which would have been based on symmetry and closure, the alignment of Carvallo's garden, with its expanding horizontal and vertical axes, exposes its 20th-century conception. At the lowest level of the garden, to the west of the château, is an ornamental kitchen-garden, consisting of nine symmetrical squares. Each square has a distinctive geometric pattern outlined in box and is planted twice annually with seasonal vegetables. West of the kitchen-garden is a medicinal herb-garden of three rings on a north-south axis. Carvallo's choice and placement of plants was inspired by the colours of the vegetables themselves, their rate of maturity and seasonal changes. Above the kitchen-garden (to the south) are three ornamental squares broadly inspired by the engraved parterres de broderie published in Les Plus Excellents Bastiments de France (1576-1579) by Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau I. Carvallo's garden at Villandry remains a spectacular testament to his personal commitment to the ideals of the 16th-century garden and its contribution to the evolution of the French formal garden.
- Topics:
- Architecture -- France -- 12th century -- (YVRC)
- Period/Style:
- Renaissance
- Culture:
- French
- Accession Number:
- 1A2-F-CV-2-C1
- Genre:
- architecture (AAT)
gardens (AAT)
houses: country houses: châteaux (AAT) - Format:
- Image
- Content Type:
- Sculptures, Models, & Architecture
- Rights:
- Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement. - Access Restrictions:
- Yale Community Only
- Digital:
- architectural exteriors; plants; Gardens gardening buildings; dwellings; houses; country houses; châteaux; open spaces; gardens canal
- Source Creator:
- Gilchrist, Scott
- Source Title:
- Archivision Base Collection
- Source Created:
- 2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
8/1/1999 - Source Note:
- Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist
- Yale Collection:
- Visual Resources Collection
- Digital Collection:
- Visual Resources Collection
- Local Record Number:
- 4152
- OID:
- 10093463
- PID:
- digcoll:1848860