Grand Parterre du Jardin de la Royne mere a Luxembourg, in Traité du Jardinage selon les Raisons de la Nature et de l'Art

Grand Parterre du Jardin de la Royne mere a Luxembourg, in Traité du Jardinage selon les Raisons de la Nature et de l'Art

Michel van Lochom

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jacques Boyceau de la Baraudière's Traité du jardinage selon les raisons de la nature et de l'art, published in Paris in 1638, was the most important publication on the subject of garden architecture in the period prior to André Mollet's 1651 treatise. The title explains the content of the book, which combines practical information with aesthetic insight. It was through the dissemination of such print works that the latest French garden-artistic principles and new patterns for parterre decorations would become known abroad. Boyceau's treatise depicts the gardens of the Luxembourg, commissioned in 1615 by Marie de' Medici with her Florentine Palace and Boboli Gardens in mind. The grand parterre formed the visual focus of the whole building complex, highlighting the element of "variety" stressed by Boyceau. The overall form of this remarkably unified parterre ensemble consisted of one monumental square with a semi-circular termination, filled with intricate "embroideries" of boxwood, plants, and colored stones, containing the crowned monogram of Marie de' Medici.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Grand Parterre du Jardin de la Royne mere a Luxembourg, in Traité du Jardinage selon les Raisons de la Nature et de l'ArtGrand Parterre du Jardin de la Royne mere a Luxembourg, in Traité du Jardinage selon les Raisons de la Nature et de l'ArtGrand Parterre du Jardin de la Royne mere a Luxembourg, in Traité du Jardinage selon les Raisons de la Nature et de l'ArtGrand Parterre du Jardin de la Royne mere a Luxembourg, in Traité du Jardinage selon les Raisons de la Nature et de l'ArtGrand Parterre du Jardin de la Royne mere a Luxembourg, in Traité du Jardinage selon les Raisons de la Nature et de l'Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.