The urge to create gardens has been ubiquitous throughout history. Tom Turner's
Garden History, first published in 2005, is subtitled “
Philosophy and Design 2000 BC – 2000 AD”. Taking a 4,000 year sweep is a manageable proposition for a book, though Turner acknowledges that no one really knows where the first gardens were made, and that the human enclosure of outdoor space began around 10,000 years ago. It is therefore surprising that so few garden designers have achieved iconic status. Indeed, it could be argued that there have only been two. In the eighteenth century Britain produced Lancelot “Capability” Brown, who made his name by sweeping away the formal lines laid out by earlier gardeners to create a stylised version of nature, while a century earlier in France, André Le…
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Citation: Thompson, Ian H.. "André Le Nôtre". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 January 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11765, accessed 27 November 2024.]