André Le Nôtre

André Le Nôtre (Paris, 1613 - 1700) was a prominent French landscape architect, a leading figure of the Baroque period, and the creator of the French formal garden. A famous courtier and friend of Louis XIV of France, he inherited his passion for gardening from his father, Jean Le Nôtre, who was the gardener of Louis XIII. He served as the royal gardener from 1645 to 1700, leaving his mark on the gardens of Versailles and on the noble estates of France. In 1664, commissioned by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, he beautified the Tuileries Gardens and extended the perspective with new rows of trees, shaping the current avenue of the Champs-Élysées. Le Nôtre also made his mark in Italy when, in 1681, he was called upon by Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy to redesign the park of the Castle of Racconigi, collaborating with the renowned architect Guarino Guarini, who was responsible for the simultaneous remodeling of the residence. He transformed the Parisian gardens with a design that introduced a system of visual axes and a variety of forms, breaking away from the static Renaissance layout. Le Nôtre lived to the age of 87 and was buried in the Saint-André chapel of the Saint-Roch church in Paris.