French Formal Garden

フランス式整形庭園 / 17th century– / Style / Garden Styles

The garden of axis, symmetry and perspective that Le Nôtre perfected at Versailles. Shears and sheets of water discipline nature into geometry, and power becomes visible as spatial order.

French Formal Garden — The axis at Versailles (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © ToucanWings — The axis at Versailles (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © ToucanWings

French Formal Garden — Jean Delagrive, plan of the gardens of Versailles 1746 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Jean Delagrive, plan of the gardens of Versailles 1746 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

Axes running to the vanishing point
Strict symmetry
Clipped geometry
Water mirrors and the grand canal

Best used for

Forecourts that state the standing of the building behind them
Squares and courts meant to be seen from an upper storey

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Dictionary entry

Type: Inscriptions and statue titles sit on the axis, paired left and right
Composition: Run one axis from the building center and mirror everything across it
Material: Clip to a level line and use water as a mirror for the sky
Caution: Axis and symmetry get copied without designing the recession, and with no budget for the labor of clipping, the outlines slacken within a few years.
Further study: André Le Nôtre / Vaux-le-Vicomte / the politics of perspective

Related entries

English Landscape Garden (イングリッシュ・ランドスケープ・ガーデン)Same Garden Styles lineage.Compare French Formal Garden and English Landscape Garden
Parterre (パルテール（刺繍花壇）)Same Garden Styles lineage.Compare French Formal Garden and Parterre

Often confused with

Italian Renaissance Garden (イタリア式庭園)compare

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