Jacques Boyceau

Jacques de la Boyceau Barauderie (* 1562 in Saint -Jean- d'Angély, † 1634 in Paris ), French landscape architect. Boyceau worked with the kings of Henri IV and Louis XIII. He is considered a pioneer of the classic French garden in front of André Le Nôtre. From his practical experience and theoretical considerations an important garden book was written.

Origin and Youth

Boyceau came from the lower nobility. Together with his childhood friend Charles de Biron, the son of one of the military leaders of Henri IV, he began a military career. The two young men took part in the Battle of Coutras and taking Luçon.

With his departure from the army Boyceau was awarded the title of a gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre du Roi. Little has been handed over Boyceaus training for landscape architects. He received the title of intendant des jardins du Roi ( "Garden Intendant of the King" ).

Work and significance

The design of the garden of Jacques de Caumont Nompar (1558-1652) in the Périgord in 1610 founded Boyceaus reputation as a more capable landscape architect. In the 1620s he worked in the gardens of Fontainebleau Castle and the Jardin des Tuileries. Be soon great work was the design of the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris for Maria de ' Medici.

Boyceaus main work was for Louis XIII. Designed Petit Parc at Versailles on Vorläuferbau the later, led by Louis XIV castle of Versailles ( Versailles first ). Boyceau put here already the basic structure of the garden, continued the André Le Nôtre, to create one of the largest gardens in the world. For this purpose he attacked Boyceaus basic principle of the expansive garden staging on at the same time harmonious coordination of the individual elements in order not to let the monumental design work monotonous. The diversity also Boyceaus contributed richly ornamented Broderie designs, which he introduced together with the brothers Claude Mollet and André Mollet in the art of gardening.

Publications

• Traité du Jardinage selon les raisons de la nature et de l'art, Paris 1638
• Traité du Jardinage, qui les enseigne qu'il faut faire pour avoir ouvrages un jardin dans sa perfection; avec la manière de faire les pépinières, greffer, enter les arbres [... ] et une instruction pour faire de longues allées promenade de bois et taillis. Paris 1689 (new edition 1707).