The formal gardens near the palace provide a rational transition
from the frozen architectural forms to the natural living ones. Here,
the elegant shapes of trimmed shrubs and hedges define the tightly
designed geometric units. Each unit is different from its neighbor
and has a focal point in the form of a sculptured group, a pavilion, a
reflecting pool, or perhaps a fountain. Farther away from the palace,
the design loosens as trees, in shadowy masses, screen or frame views
of open countryside. Le Nôtre carefully composed all vistas for max-
imum effect. Light and shadow, formal and informal, dense growth
25-34François Girardon and
Thomas Regnaudin,Apollo Attended
by the Nymphs,Grotto of Thetis,
Versailles, France, ca. 1666–1672.
Marble, life-size.
Girardon’s study of ancient sculpture
and Poussin’s figure compositions
influenced the design of this myth-
ological group in a grotto above a
dramatic waterfall in the gardens of
Versailles.25-33Jules Hardouin-Mansart
and Charles Le Brun,Galerie des
Glaces (Hall of Mirrors), palace of
Louis XIV, Versailles, France, ca. 1680.
This hall overlooks the Versailles park
from the second floor of Louis XIV’s
palace. Hundreds of mirrors illusion-
istically extend the room’s width and
once reflected gilded and jeweled
furnishings.France 699and open meadows—all play against one another in unending com-
binations and variations. No photograph or series of photographs
can reveal the design’s full richness. The park unfolds itself only to
people who actually walk through it.In this respect, it is a temporal
artwork. Its aspects change with the time of day, the seasons, and the
relative position of the observer.
For the Grotto of Thetis above a dramatic waterfall in the gar-
dens of Versailles,François Girardon(1628–1715) designed Apollo
Attended by the Nymphs (FIG. 25-34). Both stately and graceful, the