Book Review: Inspired By Nature: Château, Gardens and Art of Chaumont-Sur-Loire

 [image:  Inspired By Nature: Château, Gardens and Art of Chaumont-Sur-Loire by Chantal Colleau-Dumond/Flammarion.]

The historical domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire is home to one of the oldest existing French châteaus: the château-sur-Loire, a 15th century château that has been the center of royal intrigue, Enlightenment ideals, and modern-day festivals. Inspired By Nature: Château, Gardens and Art of Chaumont-Sur-Loire is a stunning new book from Flammarion which explores the history of the château-sur-Loire, its former inhabitants, its breathtaking gardens, and everything that has made it a popular destination for visitors from around the world.

[p. 253, photo by Eric Sander from Inspired by Nature, Flammarion 2019]
The experimental kitchen garden, created in 2009, is a homage to biodiversity. Many of the fruits and vegetables growing there had been all but forgotten since the eighteenth century.

Inspired By Nature features many beautiful photographs by Eric Sander, along with well-crafted prose crafted by Colleau-Dumond, which recounts the many historical figures and events which once took place within the gilded walls of the château-sur-Loire.

The château-sur-Loire that sits on the estate grounds today was built in the 15th century over the burnt ruins of the original chateau, which was destroyed on the orders of Louis XI as a punishment for its rebellious owners. A new chateau was built by the Chaumont-Amboise family. In 1550, Catherine de Medici was given the estate, and she frequently favored it was a retreat. 10 years later, Medici relinquished the estate to Diane de Poitiers, Henry II's favorite; it was the orders of Poitiers, now mistress of château-sur-Loire, which gave the château much of its iconic appearance that is still preserved today.

[p. 34-35, photo by Eric Sander from Inspired by Nature, Flammarion 2019]
The Catherine de’ Medici Room and The Story of David and Abigail tapestry, woven in the sixteenth century in Brussels.

Over the next few hundred years, château-sur-Loire would play home to various royals and nobles, though it never regained the favor of someone was notable as Catherine de Medici. In the 18th century, the north wing of the château was torn down so that two factories--one for crystal and the other pottery--could be built on the site. The château was seized by the new government after the revolution, though it was purchased--and widely neglected--by the famous Madame de Stael in 1810. It was not until the comte d'Aramon purchased the château in 1833 that it regained some of its former glory, including the now-popular cedars of Lebanon which remain on the site today along with extensive renovations. It was during the work of d"Aramon that the estate was declared a Monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture in 1840.

The restorations continued under the château-sur-Loire's next owner, Marie-Charlotte-Constance Say; it was during her ownership that the park was transformed into an English naturalistic landscape garden, which can still be seen today.

In 1938, Marie Say donated the estate to the French government. The château-sur-Loire remained fairly under the radar until 1992, when the very first International Garden Festival in Chaumont-sur-Loire was held. This now iconic Garden Festival is held annually and highlights innovative, creative and distinctly unique garden designs. Since its inception in 1992, the festival has not only become a mainstay for garden enthusiasts and architectural landscapers alike, it has immensely changed the way that people view gardens in a broad sense.

[p. 7, photo by Eric Sander from Inspired by Nature, Flammarion 2019]

The château was built in the fifteenth century facing the Loire river, in order to benefit from what, until the nineteenth century, was one of the longest navigable arteries in France 

Inspired By Nature: Château, Gardens and Art of Chaumont-Sur-Loire features 227 pages of historical anecdotes, architectural details, and 300 full color photographs showcasing interior details, historical photographs and, in the last section of the book, an array of garden photographs that must be seen to be believed.

Although the insight into château-sur-Loire stunning interiors and architectural marvels of the château-sur-Loire itself, combined with a wealth of historical information about how the château has been transformed and reinvented by its owners over the years, is highly interesting—I must admit that the “nature” aspect of Inspired By Nature is what captured my attention the most. The remarkably photographs by Eric Sander capture just the right amount of detail of these beautiful, distinct and sometimes even tantalizing gardens. If you have never researched the modern gardens at Chaumont-Sur-Loire, you are in for a treat—I can guarantee that you have never seen gardens quite like these! As with any Flammarion publication, the print quality on the photographs is outstanding--crisp, clear and worth looking at time and time again.

I recommend Inspired By Nature: Château, Gardens and Art of Chaumont-Sur-Loire for anyone with an interest in historical French palaces, along with anyone with even the slightest interest in gardens. This book may just change the way you view gardens forever.

[A review copy of this publication was provided to me by the publisher]

Women's History Month: 18th-Century Women and their Gardens (Book Recommendations)

Women's History Month: A month celebrating women of history! I will be posting media and book recommendations, highlighting women from (mostly) the 18th century, and otherwise sharing content with an emphasis on women in history. 

[image: detail from The Fair Florist by J.R. Smith, 1780]

 Gardening became a contradictory sphere in the 18th century; a sphere which was dominated by formalized male landscape designers yet was inhabited more and more frequently by women who employed them or who dared to step beyond mere flower gardens to more expansive and typically masculine landscapes. These gardens could be pleasure retreats, expressions of their royal body, and sometimes even punishments for women sent into--literal and otherwise--retirement. The following are a selection of books that will help you learn more about the role of women in the landscape gardening sphere of the 18th century; enjoy and happy reading!

 

Green Retreats: Women, Gardens and Eighteenth-Century Culture by Stephen Bending  

In 'Green Retreats,' Stephen Bending explores the role of women in 18th-century gardens by laying out the broader context of women's involvement in gardens during the greater part of the 1700s; including popular artistic and literary depictions of women in gardens, the emergence of pastoral themes in women's gardening, and the words of women themselves to uncover how women chose to explore, understand, and sometimes even cross the boundaries of their status in society through gardens. This book is an intriguing exploration of an often-ignored subject, and Bending's work to restore the importance of women's roles in the sphere of 18th-century gardening is not to be missed.

From Marie-Antoinette's Garden: An Eighteenth-Century Horticultural Album by Elisabeth de Feydeau

'From Marie-Antoinette's Garden' is a highly illustrated look at one of the most extensive and well-known gardens in 18th century France: that of queen Marie Antoinette, who cultivated a garden filled with specific blooms designed to evoke a very personal aesthetic. This book features plenty of illustrations of the specific flowers featured in her garden while providing historical information about the background of the various blooms, how they were imported, and their context in Marie Antoinette's garden as a hole. This book is a definite must-have for garden lovers--or anyone who wants to take a stab at introducing some historically inspired blossoms into their own garden next spring.

Dairy Queens: The Politics of Pastoral Architecture from Catherine de Medici to Marie-Antoinette by Meredith Martin 

 'Dairy Queens' is a study in very particular feature found in a number of aristocratic garden estates: the pleasure dairy. Martin's book challenges the notion that pleasure dairies were simple follies and instead explores the political, social and personal statements made through their construction and utilization by royal and aristocratic women who commissioned and sometimes designed them. This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in a contextual view of Marie Antoinette's infamous hamlet and the notion of pleasure dairies in the 16th-18th centuries as a whole.

Hyacinths at the Trianon

Two views of the currently blooming hyacinths in the gardens of the Trianon.

[credit: © EPV / Didier Saulnier, via Chateau de Versailles]

[credit: © EPV / Didier Saulnier, via Chateau de Versailles]

Pastels of the Chateau de Chantilly by Anne-Rosalie Filleul

 

image: A portrait of Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé by an unknown artist. 18th century.

Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé was a prince of the blood who inherited, among several other prestigious estates, the chateau de Chantilly, which had been in his family for many years. It was this particular Condé who overhauled the Chantilly grounds and ordered the construction of an English-style garden, including a hamlet. The hamlet and gardens at Chantilly would be an inspiration for Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon gardens several years later.

In 1780, Anne-Rosalie Filleul (born Anne-Rosalie Boquet) was hired to paint views of the estate, with an emphasis on its lush English-style gardens. Filluel was a popular artist whose work was noticed by Marie Antoinette, who eventually commissioned her to paint several portraits of the royal family. Of these royal portraits, only a few--such as her portrait of the Artois children--survived the revolution.

 image: A portrait of the children of the comte d'Artois by Anne-Rosalie Filleul. 1781.

Filleul, like many of her royal paintings, did not survive the revolution. She was denounced to the Committee of Public Safety for wearing mourning for Louis XVI in 1794, and was arrested for attempting to sell royally commissioned furniture from the Chateau de la Muette. Anne-Rosalie had once lived at Muette and was appointed Superintendent of the chateau by Marie Antoinette after her husband's death. However, because all royally commissioned furniture was considered seized property of the new Republic, Anne-Rosalie, along with companion Marguerite-Émilie Chalgri, were charged with 'theft and concealment of property belonging to the Republic.' They were found guilty and sentenced to death.

Of the Filluel paintings that did survive to present day, few are quite as charming as her pastel paintings of the Chateau de Chantilly gardens. Her paintings capture the simple, sometimes rustic, yet overwhelmingly beautiful English-style gardens that came into vogue among the French upper elite in the 1770s and 1780s.

 image: The Grand Canal at the Chateau de Chantilly

 image: The Barn at the Chateau de Chantilly

 image: The Grotto at the Chateau de Chantilly

 

 image: The Hamlet at the Chateau de Chantilly

 image: The Menagerie at the Chateau de Chantilly

My own little larkspur

I was browsing the garden section of the supermarket this past weekend and I came across packet of flower seeds that looked very familiar--larkspur! Larkspur, known in France as delphinette, was one of Marie Antoinette's favored flowers; in addition to being specially planted in the French garden of Versailles, it was featured in numerous portraits of the queen, typically as sprigs in vases.

My fledgling garden certainly won't be able to touch the grandeur of Versailles, but I have hopes that my larkspur will bloom into something beautiful in the upcoming months!

For further enjoyment, I've cultivated some lovely vintage larkspur seed packets from The Label Man, a website which specializes in vintage labels and advertisements.

 

Henrietta Richer at My French Life - Uncovering Versailles: King Louis XIV's secret French passion

(via Tea at Trianon)

Henrietta Richer at My French Life offers an enlightening look at the kitchen garden of Louis XIV:

The gardeners and students at the little-known kitchen garden at the Chateau de Versailles in France strive to maintain King Louis XIV’s rare fruit varieties and experimental gardening technics. Once a mosquito infested bog, the potager is now a national treasure.

When the French King Louis XIV moved his court to the Chateau de Versailles in 1682, the kitchen garden in the grounds was too small to satisfy the legendary appetite of the King and his court, where there were often several thousand people to feed.

The King commissioned Jean Baptiste la Quintinye, a court lawyer, to create the Potager du Roi on the site of a mosquito infested bog, behind the famous chateau. It took more than five years to drain away the stagnant water and bring in rich fertile soil from the Satory forest nearby to make the site fit for use.

Full article here.

 

A Stroll Through Marie Antoinette's Garden (From Marie Antoinette's Garden by Elisabeth de Feydeu)

 

A spellbound wilderness I saw

Painted as by Taste herself;

That celebrated garden fair

That work of Art, and Nature's glass,

Her work surpass'd by hand of Man

O' Trianon, may winter's chill

and icy blasts your beauty spare!

Sweet Trianon, what transports of delight

In lovers souls your sight inspires!

--Antoine de Berin, 'Elegie XIV: Les jardins du Petit Trianon," Les Amours, 1780

No place is more associated with Marie Antoinette than her private domain of the Petit Trianon. Marie Antoinette set a precedent with her estates, where everything--from the rights of entry to the tilt of the trees--was done "on the queen's orders." Here, the queen could shrug off the rigorous formality of the court and reenact the private, country life that she had enjoyed as a child in the more relaxed Austrian court. 

The gardens that she desired for the Petit Trianon were in stark contrast to the rigid, French-style gardens carefully designed by Le Notre for the gardens of Versailles. Marie Antoinette cultivated a wilder, more natural garden that was more reminiscent of a stroll through a delightful, enchanting forest than the straight-laced, formal palace landscape. Little "surprises," such as grottos and man-made "natural" streams, were intended to delight visitors through their natural beauty and charm.

 

credit: p.207: Cabbage rose. © Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Dist. RMN / image du MNHN, bibliothèque centrale, Redouté Pierre Joseph (1759-1840)

From Marie Antoinette's Garden by Elisabeth de Feydeau takes readers on an imaginary stroll through the ever-charming, delightful and beautiful world of Marie Antoinette's gardens. The book is divided into sections, based on six areas in the estates of the queen; each section contains numerous plant "entries," which feature a gorgeous watercolor illustration accompanied by practical and historical information about the specific plant.

Readers will walk through the French Gardens, where fragrant irises--a favorite of Marie Antoinette--perfumed the air; to the winding, natural paths of the English Garden; to the Belvedere, where Marie Antoinette, surrounded by blooms of jasmine, could view her estates; to the wild Wood of Solitude, filled with wildflowers and wild plants; and through the Queen's Hamlet, dotted with berries and flowers, all the way to the Temple of Love, perfumed by an endless variety of Marie Antoinette's beloved roses. The end result is a memorable, wistful walk through the gardens of the last queen of France.

The album is not only a collection of contemporary drawings of the many plants enjoyed by queen; it is also filled with historical accounts of the gardens, such as letters written by Marie Antoinette herself, memoirs written by visiting contemporaries, and musings on this magnificent landscape written by later historians. 

Other tidbits, such as medicinal and symbolic trivia, are also worthy of note. Did you know that cornflowers, found in the Queen's Hamlet, were also used to treat eye infections? Or that the Chinese-imported Japanese camellia, found in Marie Antoinette's English garden, was considered a bad omen in China? In Chinese lore, it was said that if a woman wore a flowering camellia in her hair, she would take many years to conceive a child. 

From Marie Antoinette's Garden by Elisabeth de Feydeu is a well-crafted, delightful look at one of the grandest gardens of the 18th century. I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in Marie Antoinette, gardens and flowers, or French history. The book, which is being distributed by Rizzoli New York via Random House, is set for release on September 3rd, 2013. 

[A review copy of this publication was provided to me by the publisher upon my request.]

From Marie Antoinette's Garden: Rose

 

image: detail of a portrait of Marie Antoinette with a rose by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun

The gardens of Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon were legendary for extraordinary beauty. Marie Antoinette adored flowers and her love for them is most apparent in the magnificent gardens she had cultivated in her name at Versailles and the Petit Trianon. The upcoming horticultural album, From Marie Antoinette's Garden, takes readers on a literary stroll through the most prominent of the flowers and plants found in the gardens of the queen.

In 1770, Louis XV presented Marie Antoinette--then a young dauphine--with a rather unusual portrait, in which she was depicted as the center of a rose. Although the portrait has since been lost to the ages, its description brings to mind the undeniable association between Marie Antoinette and this most famous flower.

Roses were a part of almost every aspect of Marie Antoinette's life; from her portraits to her bedroom walls to the magnificent gardenscape of the Petit Trianon--even the queen's fashion choices hearkened back to her love of these beautiful blooms. During the heyday of the floral, country-inspired fashion associated with the Petit Trianon, both fresh and artificial roses were used as garlands and other ornamental decorations for their nature-inspired ensembles.

 

image: detail of Marie Antoinette holding a rose from a 1778 portrait by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
credit: (C) RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

Roses can be found in many of Marie Antoinette's portraits. Roses may have been a symbolic nod to her Austrian heritage; they may also have been used as a symbol of her Christian faith. In Christian paintings and engravings, various types of roses were often used to represent the rebirth of Christ, the Holy Trinity, and other important Christian iconography. The dog rose, just one of the roses chosen to populate the Petit Trianon, was used to symbolize both the five wounds of Christ and his rebirth. In mythology, the Rose was associated with love, fertility, and beauty.

 

image: detail of a portrait of Marie Antoinette, attributed to d'Agoty; rose bushes can be seen in the background

Roses could be found in almost every nook and cranny of the Petit Trianon. In 1779, Marie Antoinette wrote to her mother that she had "innumerable rose varieties, of which my gardener is so proud, that people of his profession come to study them[.]" The interior of the Temple of Love was once decorated with rose garlands tied with ribbons, which only added to the fragrant floral scent which filled the air of the Trianon.

 

image: Dog Rose

credit: AnRo0002 on Wikimedia Commons

One of the rose varieties grown at the Trianon was Rosa canina, or Dog Rose. The dog rose has large pink or white flowers which, although not very fragrant, were especially appreciated in 18th century gardens for their "wild" appearance.

 

image: Dog Rose

credit: AnRo0002 on Wikimedia Commons

Marie Antoinette may have loved the rustic, untended look that these flowers brought to her gardens, which she planted after the carefully designed "natural" English style. In 1784, over two thousand dog roses were delivered to the Trianon to be planted in Marie Antoinette's garden.

image: A painting of Rosa centifolia foliacea by Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Another type of rose favored by Marie Antoinette was Rosa × centifolia, or the Cabbage Rose. The cabbage rose, also called the provence rose, initially was developed in the 17th and 19th century by Dutch rose breeders. It is a hybrid breed, although its exact hereditary history is not known. Its name comes from the globe-shaped flowers, which have a similar appearance to cabbage.

The cabbage rose was also used in fragrances and perfumed beauty products. Jean-Louis Fargeon, a perfumer favored by Marie Antoinette, used cabbage roses in many of his creations. It is still used by modern perfumes due to its rich fragrance.

 

image: a cabbage rose

credit: quinnanya on Flickr

The dog rose and cabbage rose are just two of the many flowers and plants to uncover in the upcoming publication, From Marie Antoinette's Garden by Elisabeth de Feydeu, set for publication on September 3rd, 2013.

From Marie Antoinette's Garden: Delphinette

 

image: Delphinette

credit: Danny Steven S. 

The gardens of Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon were legendary for extraordinary beauty. Marie Antoinette adored flowers and her love for them is most apparent in the magnificent gardens she had cultivated in her name at Versailles and the Petit Trianon. The upcoming horticultural album, From Marie Antoinette's Garden, takes readers on a literary stroll through the most prominent of the flowers and plants found in the gardens of the queen.

One of the flowers that found its place in the world of Marie Antoinette was Delphinium ajacis (or Consolida ajacis). Delphinium ajacis is a native European flower commonly known in English as rocket larkspur. In 18th century France, it was known by charming names such as Delphinette, Pied d'Alouette, Eperon de Chevalier and Consoude royale, among others. Delphinette, the term typically used in France, for was originally derived from the Latin term for dolphin (delphin) which was a reference to the unique shape of the flower's buds.

 

credit: Eureka Sophie

Red, pink, white and blue variations were the most commonly cultivated colors in the 18th century; blue was highly favored for ornamental bouquets and gardens. Double-bloomed blue "delphinettes" were the most highly prized due to their color and unique appearance.

But Delphinette was not only used to beautify gardens and boudoirs. The plant, though toxic, was once believed to have curative properties. Distilled mixtures of Delphinette, made from its flowers boiled in rose water, were used as eye drops that were believed to treat conjunctivitis and inflammations. It was even used to treat kidney stones!

 image: Detail from a portrait of Marie Antoinette in court dress, circa 1778, by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.
credit: (C) RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

The flower was particularly favored by Marie Antoinette. It was specially planted in the French Garden, just to the west of Versailles. Delphinette is also featured in several of her portraits, including a formal court portrait by Vigée-Lebrun, where sprigs of the flower can be seen in a bouquet along with lilies, roses and narcissi.

 

image: blue rocket larkspur

credit: BotBin

The Delphinette, or rocket larkspur, is just one of the many flowers and plants to uncover in the upcoming publication, From Marie Antoinette's Garden by Elisabeth de Feydeu, set for publication on September 3rd, 2013.