André Mollet
Encyclopedia
André Mollet was a French garden designer
, the son of Claude Mollet
—gardener to three French kings—and the grandson of Jacques Mollet, gardener at the château d'Anet
, where Italian formal gardening
was introduced to France.
in Stockholm
. His lasting record is his handsomely-printed folio, Le Jardin de plaisir ("The Pleasure Garden"), Stockholm 1651, which he illustrated with meticulous copperplate engravings after his own designs, and which, with an eye to a European aristocratic clientele, he published in Swedish, French and German. In his designs the rich patterning of parterre
s, which had formerly been a garden feature of interest in isolation, was for the first time arranged in significant relation to the plan of the house. André Mollet's designs coordinated the elements of scythed turf—making its debut here as an essential element of garden design—with gravel paths, basins and fountain
s, parterres, bosquet
s and allée
s.
and perhaps the parterres at Wilton House
, but by 1633 he was in the service of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange
, for whom he laid out parterres en broderie that included the lion rampant
of the prince's coat-of-arms, in turf and clipped boxwood
, set in colored gravels at Huis Honselaarsdijk
, and at the prince's other main residence, Huis ter Nieuwburg
near Rijswijk
.
in Wimbledon
. He presumably returned to France after the outbreak of the English Civil War
later that year, and dropped from sight. In the autumn of 1646, a Swedish delegation arrived in Paris, led by Christina's favourite, the connoisseur Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
, who was so pleased with recent French developments in the art of gardens that he engaged André Mollet for the queen on the spot. Mollet took on two assistants and provided himself with orange and lemon trees and pomegranate
s, with myrtle
, laurel trees
and Spanish jasmine
, all of which were tender and destined for an orangerie
. He also procured tulip
bulbs and ranunculus
roots. Then there was a frustrating delay of a full season before the official confirmation arrived.
textiles. He modernized the existing gardens linked to the royal palace in Stockholm
and laid out a new garden in the outskirts of Stockholm on the site of a former hop-garden, the Humlegården
. The introduction of a Baroque garden style in Sweden dates to this decade, with the encouragement of progressive Francophile
architects like Nicodemus Tessin the Elder
and Jean de la Vallée
, with whom Mollet had worked in Holland, together with the eager commissions from Swedish nobles that Mollet received. The results are documented in Erik Dahlbergh's topographical Suecia antiqua et hodierna. Though Mollet left Sweden in 1653, his son Jean Mollet remained in Sweden for the rest of his life, and Médard Gue, one of André Mollet's original French assistants, assumed an independent role in Swedish gardening.
Soon André Mollet was in London, whence he received a passport to travel abroad once more in 1653. With the English Restoration in 1660, conditions for ambitious garden-building were once more propitious, and André Mollet was listed as a royal gardener, gardener-in-chief for St. James's Park
. An English edition of Le Jardin de plaisir appeared in London in 1670, as The Pleasure Garden.
André Mollet's brother, the younger Claude Mollet, was passed over in favour of André Le Nôtre
as chief gardener at the Palace of the Tuileries
, in 1649.
Garden designer
The term garden designer can refer either to an amateur or a professional who designs the plan and features of gardens. Amateurs design their gardens for their own properties. Professionals, with experienced skills, design gardens that benefit clients...
, the son of Claude Mollet
Claude Mollet
Claude Mollet , premier jardinier du Roy— first gardener to three French kings, Henri IV, Louis XIII and the young Louis XIV—was a member of the Mollet dynasty of French garden designers in the seventeenth century...
—gardener to three French kings—and the grandson of Jacques Mollet, gardener at the château d'Anet
Château d'Anet
The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France...
, where Italian formal gardening
Garden design
Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise...
was introduced to France.
Royal appointment
André Mollet became royal gardener to Queen ChristinaChristina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. His lasting record is his handsomely-printed folio, Le Jardin de plaisir ("The Pleasure Garden"), Stockholm 1651, which he illustrated with meticulous copperplate engravings after his own designs, and which, with an eye to a European aristocratic clientele, he published in Swedish, French and German. In his designs the rich patterning of parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
s, which had formerly been a garden feature of interest in isolation, was for the first time arranged in significant relation to the plan of the house. André Mollet's designs coordinated the elements of scythed turf—making its debut here as an essential element of garden design—with gravel paths, basins and fountain
Fountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
s, parterres, bosquet
Bosquet
In the French formal garden, a bosquet is a formal plantation of trees, at least five of identical species planted as a quincunx, or set in strict regularity as to rank and file, so that the trunks line up as one passes along either face...
s and allée
Avenue (landscape)
__notoc__In landscaping, an avenue or allée is traditionally a straight route with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each, which is used, as its French source venir indicates, to emphasize the "coming to," or arrival at a landscape or architectural feature...
s.
Summoned to England
André Mollet was summoned to England in the 1620s to lay out gardens for Charles I of EnglandCharles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
and perhaps the parterres at Wilton House
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years....
, but by 1633 he was in the service of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch , was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.-Early life:...
, for whom he laid out parterres en broderie that included the lion rampant
Lion (heraldry)
The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises bravery, valour, strength, and royalty, since traditionally, it is regarded as the king of beasts.-Attitudes:...
of the prince's coat-of-arms, in turf and clipped boxwood
Buxus
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....
, set in colored gravels at Huis Honselaarsdijk
Huis Honselaarsdijk
Huis Honselaarsdijk was a palace in Honselersdijk, Holland, Dutch Republic. The palace was designed by the Dutch architects Bartholomeus van Bassen, Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post, and was built in the first half of the 17th century as a buitenplaats for stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of...
, and at the prince's other main residence, Huis ter Nieuwburg
Huis ter Nieuwburg
Huis ter Nieuwburg or Huis ter Nieuburch was a palace in Rijswijk, Holland, Dutch Republic. The symmetrical French Classicist building was probably designed by the French architect Jacques de la Vallée and was built between 1633 and 1636 for stadtholder Prince Frederick Henry.The palace with...
near Rijswijk
Rijswijk
Rijswijk is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is a suburb of The Hague and covers an area of 14.48 km² ....
.
Return to France
He returned to France in 1635, but he was back in England by 1642, when he was designing gardens for Queen Henrietta MariaHenrietta Maria of France
Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...
in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
. He presumably returned to France after the outbreak of the English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
later that year, and dropped from sight. In the autumn of 1646, a Swedish delegation arrived in Paris, led by Christina's favourite, the connoisseur Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie
Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie was a Swedish statesman and military man. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1647 and came to be the holder of three of the five offices counted as the Great Officers of the Realm, namely Lord High Treasurer, Lord High Chancellor and Lord High...
, who was so pleased with recent French developments in the art of gardens that he engaged André Mollet for the queen on the spot. Mollet took on two assistants and provided himself with orange and lemon trees and pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s, with myrtle
Myrtaceae
The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...
, laurel trees
Lauraceae
The Lauraceae or Laurel family comprises a group of flowering plants included in the order Laurales. The family contains about 55 genera and over 3500, perhaps as many as 4000, species world-wide, mostly from warm or tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America...
and Spanish jasmine
Jasminum grandiflorum
Jasminum grandiflorum, also known variously as the Spanish jasmine, Royal jasmine, Catalonian jasmine, among others is a species of jasmine native to South Asia. In India, its leaves are widely used as an Ayurvedic herbal medicine and its flowers are used to adorn the coiffure of women...
, all of which were tender and destined for an orangerie
Orangery
An orangery was a building in the grounds of fashionable residences from the 17th to the 19th centuries and given a classicising architectural form. The orangery was similar to a greenhouse or conservatory...
. He also procured tulip
Tulip
The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which comprises 109 species and belongs to the family Liliaceae. The genus's native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip's centre of...
bulbs and ranunculus
Ranunculus
Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus include the buttercups, spearworts, water crowfoots and the lesser celandine....
roots. Then there was a frustrating delay of a full season before the official confirmation arrived.
Sweden
Mollet's stay in Sweden lasted five years, during which he introduced to Sweden the French parterres en broderie patterned like BaroqueBaroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
textiles. He modernized the existing gardens linked to the royal palace in Stockholm
Stockholm Palace
The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. . Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen , in Gamla Stan in the capital, Stockholm...
and laid out a new garden in the outskirts of Stockholm on the site of a former hop-garden, the Humlegården
Humlegården
Humlegården is a major park in Östermalm in Stockholm. It is the location of the Royal Library and in the centre of the park is a large statue of Carl von Linné, better known as Linnaeus.- History :...
. The introduction of a Baroque garden style in Sweden dates to this decade, with the encouragement of progressive Francophile
Francophile
Is a person with a positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of France. This could include France itself and its history, the French language, French cuisine, literature, etc...
architects like Nicodemus Tessin the Elder
Nicodemus Tessin the Elder
Nicodemus Tessin the Elder was an important Swedish architect.-Biography:Nicodemus Tessin was born in Stralsund in Pomerania and came to Sweden as a young man. There he met and worked with the architect Simon de la Vallée...
and Jean de la Vallée
Jean De la Vallée
Jean de la Vallée was a French-born architect, who lived and worked in Sweden. He was the son of Simon de la Vallée, who was killed by a Swedish nobleman in 1642. The father had started the planning of the House of Knights in Stockholm, and in 1660 his son finished his father's work...
, with whom Mollet had worked in Holland, together with the eager commissions from Swedish nobles that Mollet received. The results are documented in Erik Dahlbergh's topographical Suecia antiqua et hodierna. Though Mollet left Sweden in 1653, his son Jean Mollet remained in Sweden for the rest of his life, and Médard Gue, one of André Mollet's original French assistants, assumed an independent role in Swedish gardening.
Soon André Mollet was in London, whence he received a passport to travel abroad once more in 1653. With the English Restoration in 1660, conditions for ambitious garden-building were once more propitious, and André Mollet was listed as a royal gardener, gardener-in-chief for St. James's Park
St. James's Park
St. James's Park is a 23 hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London - the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St. James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Less.- Geographical location :St. James's...
. An English edition of Le Jardin de plaisir appeared in London in 1670, as The Pleasure Garden.
André Mollet's brother, the younger Claude Mollet, was passed over in favour of André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France...
as chief gardener at the Palace of the Tuileries
Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
, in 1649.
See also
Mollet's French predecessors in the art of gardening:- Charles EstienneCharles EstienneCharles Estienne was an early exponent of the science of anatomy in France. Charles was a younger brother of Robert Estienne, the famous printer, and son to Henri, who Latinized the family name as Stephanus. He married Geneviève de Berly....
- Jean LiebaultJean LiebaultJean Liebault was a doctor and agronomist, born in Dijon.He married Nicole Estienne, who published several writings about marriage, in which she condemned domestic violence and a large age difference between spouses. His father-in-law, Charles Estienne gave him the French translation of Estienne's...
- Olivier de SerresOlivier de SerresOlivier de Serres was a French author and soil scientist whose Théâtre d'Agriculture was the text book of French agriculture in the 17th century..Serres was born at Villeneuve-de-Berg, Ardèche...
- Claude MolletClaude MolletClaude Mollet , premier jardinier du Roy— first gardener to three French kings, Henri IV, Louis XIII and the young Louis XIV—was a member of the Mollet dynasty of French garden designers in the seventeenth century...
- Jacques BoyceauJacques BoyceauJacques Boyceau, sieur de la Barauderie was a French garden designer, the superintendent of royal gardens under Louis XIII, whose posthumously-produced Traité du iardinage selon les raisons de la nature et de l'art. Ensemble divers desseins de parterres, pelouzes, bosquets et autres ornements was...
- Garden à la françaiseGarden à la françaiseThe French formal garden, also called jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le...
- Landscape design history