Characteristics of French Gardens

France is located in the western part of the European continent, with a total land area of about 550,000 square kilometers, and is the largest country in Western Europe. Its plane is hexagonal, with three sides facing the sea and three sides facing the land, most of which are plain areas. Because it is located in the mid-latitude area, it has a mild climate and moderate rainfall, showing an obvious maritime climate. Such a unique geographical location and climate provide convenience for communication with surrounding areas, and also create favorable conditions for the survival and reproduction of various plants, thus providing rich materials for gardening. In addition, influenced by French culture, economy, ideology and other factors in the world garden system, French classical gardening art is unique in the world garden system and has far-reaching influence. Its representative figure is Endrey Lenotel, and his masterpieces include Fullerway Palace, Versailles Garden and so on. But as far as the whole French classical garden is concerned, it has also experienced a process of emergence and development.

Around 500 AD, there was a simple description of an entertainment garden in France. At that time, the gardens of princes and nobles were mainly practical, such as planting fruit trees, vegetables and other plants. This form can be regarded as the embryonic period of gardens. This is different from the original garden form in China's classical gardens-so it is different to raise animals in the area. However, from its users, it is all to meet the needs of the rulers, which is the same. Since then, although ornamental plants have been added and ornamental trees have been pruned, on the whole, before the12nd century, due to the restriction of the whole social, economic and cultural factors, the management of gardens was at a low level, and it was in the embryonic stage of development in the whole development process.

/kloc-After 0/2 century, France's territory expanded and its royal power strengthened, and Paris gradually became the economic center of the whole country, creating favorable conditions for France to become a unified centralized country. At the same time, handicrafts and commerce flourished. With the economic growth, nobles gradually pursue a more luxurious lifestyle, which further promotes the development of gardening art. There are water plays and zoos similar to fountains designed by mechanical devices, and there is a maze made of plants in the garden of King Sao Paulo of Charles V (1368- 1380). No matter what historical significance it represented at that time, we can all see that the gardening skills in this period have been improved and the gardening contents have become richer. 1373. Britain launched a war against France. At the beginning of the war, France was frustrated, and the disease led to the decrease of French population and economic frustration, and the gardening art was basically in a state of stagnation. After nearly a hundred years of war, 1453 France ended successfully and the period of economic revival began. King Louis Xi (1461-1483) basically completed the unification of the country. During this period, René, the royal archduke of Anjou, not only built a luxurious palace, but also built a Rabotteau Garden, which broke the traditional French pattern and adopted natural layout, and successfully applied the technique of borrowing scenery to China's gardening, which had the same effect as China's classical gardens and paid attention to nature and wild interest.

The Renaissance brought great changes to the gardening art in France. After the Anglo-French War in the first half of the 6th century, Francois I and Henry II of Flo Dynasty launched a war of aggression against Italy. Although their exploration failed, they came into contact with Italian Renaissance culture and were deeply influenced by Italian culture, which had a certain impact on the art of gardening. Sculptures, patterned flower beds and caves appeared in the garden, and the patterns of multi-layered terraces also appeared, further enriching the content of the garden. Typical gardens include Dong 'afu Garden and Hyon Garden. Generally speaking, the functions of gardens in this period not only increased the functions of recreation and appreciation, but also retained the functions of planting and production, and the overall planning was very extensive.

By the middle of16th century, with the strengthening of centralization, new changes had taken place in garden art. First of all, in architecture, a solemn and symmetrical pattern was formed, the ornamental value of the garden was enhanced, and the relationship between plants and buildings was also close. The layout of the garden was mainly regular and symmetrical, which was mainly influenced by Italian gardening. The famous gardens are An Mansion Garden and Verne Mansion Garden. From16th century to the first half of17th century, under the influence of architect Mubaa and horticulturist Moray's family, French gardening changed from local layout to overall layout, and also recorded the ideas of expressing useful topics and images, which seems to have the same effect as the application of mountain and water topics and couplets in China gardens. It can be seen that the creativity and expressive force of the garden are obviously enhanced at this time. Mr Chen Zhihua called this period early French classicism. Under the influence of advocating artificial beauty and orderly gardening, the layout of gardening pays attention to regular and orderly geometric composition, which is also reflected in the treatment of plant elements. They use plants in the form of green walls, hedges, hedges and green buildings with superb skills, which fully embodies their rationalism.

/kloc-in the second half of the 0/7th century, French classical garden art developed greatly, the most representative of which was the garden of Versailles designed for King Louis XIV of France, Lenotel, which became the representative of classicism. Magnificent, magnificent and steady, with the palace culture of Louis XIV, French classical garden art spread to Spain, Russia, Italy and even the whole of Europe, with far-reaching influence. The overall layout of Versailles Garden is to embody the supremacy of the monarch, with the axis of the mansion as the composition center, and gradually spread along the mansion-garden-forest garden to form a complete and unified whole. Moreover, taking the forest garden as the continuation and background of the garden can be described as ingenious. However, the garden layout emphasizes orderly and rigorous, large-scale and far-reaching axis, thus forming a broad and extroverted garden, which embodies their aesthetic taste. In plain frankness, it is rich and harmonious through the arrangement of scale and rhythm. Its large-scale function is to hold various activities for the court to accommodate many people. One of King Louis XIV's favorite places is Variano Hall, a porcelain. The application of decorative materials is an imitation of China porcelain. It can be seen that the culture of China at that time had a far-reaching impact. In addition, the very famous garden is the Florway Palace Garden designed by Lenotel for Foucault, which is his first mature work. The art of gardening is also superb. The detailed design of Versailles Palace Garden and Fullway Palace Garden is not detailed here, because most people who like garden art have interpreted it. Throughout the history of France, it is not difficult to see that when France entered a period of high cultural development and became a European power, it reached a brilliant peak in politics and culture. In such an era of cultural prosperity, it is easy to understand the emergence of such excellent garden works.

Since16th century, French gardens have always adopted the form of strict symmetry. By the17th century, although influenced by Italy, the overall design and local treatment were still not unified, and local changes were scattered. Lenotel's most important achievement is to design a grand and unified landscape with gardens and buildings as a whole, which has been successfully reflected in his specific design. Palace of Versailles With the glorious history of Louis XIV and the end of the Regency era, the Palace of Versailles began to be abandoned until 1747.

/kloc-After the 0/8th century, French gardening art was influenced by China and Britain, and the pursuit of cordial and quiet atmosphere had an impact on French classical gardening art ... Palace-style gardens have also undergone some changes, adding a lot of natural flavor. /kloc-in the mid-8th century, when the French bourgeoisie became a new class, his enlightenment thinkers borrowed the ethics of Confucius and Mencius from China as an ideological weapon to resist the rule of religious theocracy. With the development of overseas trade, European businessmen took away a large number of handicrafts from China, showing a higher oriental culture. French horticulture was further influenced by China culture. /kloc-In the second half of the 8th century, influenced by the ideological and cultural trend of the Enlightenment, the art of gardening has undergone fundamental changes, and natural landscape architecture has been greatly respected.

In a word, from the second half of16th century, French gardening was influenced by Italian gardening for about a whole century and experienced a continuous development process. Until the second half of the17th century, the appearance of Lenotel marked the end of the era of simply imitating Italian gardening forms and the beginning of Lenotel's gardening forms, which became a form with far-reaching influence in Europe, and the French gardening art was greatly improved. Lenotel can be said to have led the French classical garden culture, which is also the result of conforming to the historical trend and the inevitable trend of historical development. Just as China gardens advocate natural landscape, they are unique in the world garden system. When we look back, it is still so bright and magnificent. It was the product of politics, economy, culture and many other aspects at that time. No matter how people evaluate them, their influence and function on world gardens are indelible. Although French classical gardens are quite different from China classical gardens in form and aesthetic taste, understanding their origins will help us to grasp the tradition, find the cultural background and create new works.

In addition, the French gardening art began with the hands of architects, especially the classical gardens were deeply influenced by architecture; On the other hand, it also shows the superb architectural art of France. There are many immortal works that we can still feel. In addition to the Palace of Versailles, which represents the essence of French art, the Louvre, the largest art museum in the world, is located in Paris. Besides displaying many artistic treasures in the palace, the Louvre itself is a huge treasure house of architectural art. Bourbon Palace is a magnificent classical building with a history of more than 260 years. There are also many excellent architectural works such as Elysee Palace, Luxembourg Palace, Notre Dame de Paris, Paris Wax Museum, Arc de Triomphe and so on. Such a magnificent building, the architect's garden is naturally magnificent, reflecting the palace culture. In addition, we can also see the nature zoo, the seawater treatment center, the Vendom Column, Balzac's former residence, Fontainebleau, Charles de Gaulle Square and many other places of interest. Today, with the integration of world culture, although there are more excellent garden works, it is undeniable that French classical gardens still left a deep impression on us.

As a follower of landscape architecture, I am deeply influenced by the classical gardens in China, and also have a strong interest in gardens around the world. This article is based on my interest. Due to the lack of historical knowledge, the analysis of French classical gardens is inevitably superficial. However, if the ideas of our predecessors can inspire us and help our work, it is also very meaningful to know about them.