Tag Archives: Versailles

Happy 400th Birthday Mr Silvestre… Louis should throw you a party

Posted on 21/08/2021 by The Gardens Trust

Serendipity strikes! Last Thursday just as I was finishing off last week’s post about trompe l’oeil paintings I saw a newsflash on a history website that it was the 400th birthday of Israel Silvestre that very day. That probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art history, France, Versailles | Leave a comment

Josephine @ Malmaison

Posted on 04/07/2020 by The Gardens Trust

The story of how a 32 year widow from Martinique escaped the guillotine and then met and fell in love with the a young Corsican general during the French Revolution is the stuff of romantic novels. It’s one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, australia, Boats, Empress Josephine, ferme ornee, France, garden bridge, garden buildings, jardin anglais, Joseph Banks, Marly, menagerie, Napoleon, temple, Thomas Whately, Versailles | Leave a comment

Looking East …

Posted on 18/08/2018 by The Gardens Trust

What’s the best known – and certainly most instantly recognizable – garden building in Britain? I ought to think of something clever to say at this point, or perhaps provide a list to choose from but I suspect that for … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 17thc, baroque, china, Chinese bridge, chonoiserie, conservation, dragons, Dutch, Dutch East India Company, Frederick Prince of Wales, garden buildings, George III, Historic Royal Palaces, jesuits, kew, Lord Bute, Louis XIV, Nieuhof, Nymphenburg, pagoda, Pillnitz, porcelain, Princess Augusta, Sir john mandeville, Trianon, Versailles, william chambers | 1 Comment

Batty’s arti-natural Principles

Posted on 29/07/2017 by The Gardens Trust

The wonderfully named Batty Langley was a gardener’s son who followed in his fathers footsteps and then turned surveyor, landscape gardener, artificial stone maker, would-be architect and garden designer, as well as prolific author. Well he had to do something … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Addison, alexander pope, baroque, batty langley, ha ha, kitchen garden, parterre, pattern books, rococo, Stephen Switzer, Twickenham Park, Versailles | Leave a comment

Achille Duchêne @ Blenheim

Posted on 19/11/2016 by The Gardens Trust

A drizzly overcast day in mid-November might not be the ideal time to see the gardens at Blenheim but I was taking advantage of an offer of free entry to the gardens and park via my RHS membership, so a drizzly … Continue reading →