Dezallier d'Argenville

Dezallier d'Argenville

The family of Dezallier d'Argenville produced two writers and connoisseurs in the course of the 18th century.

Dezallier d'Argenville.
Dezallier d'Argenville.

Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville (Paris, 1 July 1680–29 November 1765), avocat to the Parlement de Paris and secretary to the king, was a connoisseur of gardening who laid out two for himself and his family, before writing La théorie et la pratique du jardinage (published anonymously, 1709; second edition, 1713), based on his experience and his reading[1]. The majority of the illustrations were by Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond, who was credited as the author in the third edition, 1722[2]. As the work of a gentleman rather than a gardener, as previous French books on gardening had all been, Dezallier d'Argenville's work was laid out like a treatise of architecture, addressed as much to the architect and the patron as to the practicing gardener. As its title suggests, the treatise is composed of two parts: the theoretical principles of the art of fine gardening and its practical applications. The first section considers the principles of siting the maison de plaisance relative to its gardens, techniques of laying out geometric figures in parterres, avenues and formal tree plantations (bosquets), and the planning of garden pavilions and the siting of sculpture, an essential element in the jardin français. The second part applies the principles in earth works, terraces and stairs, and the hydraulics necessary for constructing jeux d'eau: fountains, cascades, pools (bassins) and canals.

His rational principles could adapt formal parterre gardening to the simplified programs available to the upper middle class[3], which accounts for the immense popularity of his book, which is the central document in the 18th century formal garden in the wake of André Le Nôtre. The work went through thirteen editions in France[4], where the English mode of landscape design scarcely made itself known before the French Revolution. It was published in a German version[5] and translated into English by the architect John James, as The Theory and Practice of Gardening (1712, with a 2nd edition in 1728, and a 3rd edition in 1743, when the English landscape garden, might have seemed to make its formal designs passé.) Dezallier d'Argenville's Théorique in its English version introduced the Ha-ha, the invisible fence, to English practice.

Dezailler d'Argenville was called upon to edit or contribute more than 600 entries in the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert, published in parts from 1751.

Dezallier d'Argenville's interest in natural history resulted in two treatises, on shells and minerals, L'histoire naturelle éclaircie dans deux de ses parties principales, la lithologie et la conchyliologie. (Paris 1742) La Conchyliologie, ou Traité sur la nature des coquillages 1757 etc.. The connoisseurship of shells and their most colorful and fantastic form was a gentleman's occupation and a worthy inclusion in a cabinet de curiosités before it became a science under the Linnaean system of classification.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in March, 1750.[6]

His son, Antoine-Nicolas Dezallier d'Argenville (1723–1796), was the anonymous author (M. D***.) of Voyage Pictoresque de Paris; ou Indication de tout ce qu'il y a de plus beau dans cette grande Ville en Peinture, Sculpture, & Architecture, which appeared in Paris in 1749, a connoisseur's guide to the chief artistic and architectural monuments of Paris, with accounts of the leading academic and scientific organizations of the city. At least six further editions appeared before the Revolution (Paris, 1752, 1757, 1765, 1770, 1778, 1780). A Voyage pittoresque des environs de Paris, ou Description des Maisons Royales, Châteaux & autres Lieux de Plaisance, situés à quinze lieues aux environs de cette Ville by the same author appeared in Paris in 1755, a connoiseur's guide to the chief artistic and architectural monuments of the surroundings of Paris in which the author especially paid a tribute to the triumphe of gardening. At least one further edition appeared before the Revolution (Paris, 1768, 3rd edition).

Further works were Dénombrement de tous les fossiles de France and L'Oryctologie ou Traité des pierres, des minéraux et autres fossiles.

He compiled also the Vies des Fameux Architectes Depuis la renaissance des Arts in two volumes, 1787, of which the second was devoted to sculptors. An abridged edition (Abrégé de la vie...) was often reprinted. A facsimile was published in Geneva 1972. He also wrote a Dictionnaire du jardinage, relatif à la théorie. et à la pratique de cet art (Paris, 1771) and a Manuel du jardinier ou journal de son travail distribué par mois, (Paris, 1772)

References

  1. ^ Full title: La theorie et la pratique du jardinage. Ou l'on traite à fond des beaux jardins appellés communément les jardins de propreté, comme sont les parterres, les bosquets, les boulingrins, &c. Contenant plusieurs plans et dispositions generales de jardins; nouveaux desseins…& autres ornemens servant à la décoration & embélissement des jardins. Avec la manière de dresser un terrain… His remark "A fine garden being no less difficult to contrive and order well than a good building" suggests that he had read Francis Bacon's essay "Of gardening".
  2. ^ Gerda Gollwitzer, "The influence of Le Nostre" in The French Formal Garden, 1974, Elizabeth B. MacDougall and F. Hamilton Hazlehurst, editors (Dumbarton Oaks)
  3. ^ Previous books on gardening had presented only the grandest royal and aristocratic projects.
  4. ^ And unauthorized reprints from The Hague
  5. ^ Die Gärtnerey sowohl in ihre Theorie oder Betrachtung, als Praxi oder Übung, translated by Frantz Anton Danreitter, gardener to the archbishop of Salzburg (Gollwitzer, p. 74).
  6. ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27argenville%27%29. Retrieved 2010. 

Bibliography

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Dezallier d'Argenville — Antoine Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville Antoine Joseph Dézallier d’Argenville (* 1. Juli 1680 in Paris; † 29. November 1765) war ein französischer Gelehrter, Naturhistoriker und Verfasser zahlreicher gartentheoretischer Schriften. Sein Buch La… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville — (* 1. Juli 1680 in Paris; † 29. November 1765) war ein französischer Gelehrter, Naturhistoriker und Verfasser wissenschaftlicher Schriften. Sein Vater war der Buchhändler Antoine Dezallier …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Antoine-Joseph Dézallier d'Argenville — Antoine Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville Antoine Joseph Dézallier d’Argenville (* 1. Juli 1680 in Paris; † 29. November 1765) war ein französischer Gelehrter, Naturhistoriker und Verfasser zahlreicher gartentheoretischer Schriften. Sein Buch La… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Antoine-Joseph Dézallier d’Argenville — Antoine Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville Antoine Joseph Dézallier d’Argenville (* 1. Juli 1680 in Paris; † 29. November 1765) war ein französischer Gelehrter, Naturhistoriker und Verfasser zahlreicher gartentheoretischer Schriften. Sein Buch La… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Antoine Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Antoine Joseph Dezallier d Argenville Dezalli …   Wikipedia Español

  • Antoine Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville — ne pas confondre avec son fils Antoine Nicolas Dezallier d Argenville (1723 1796) Dezallier d’Argenville. Gravure de Vanghelisty en 1775 d’après le tableau perdu de Hyacinthe Rigaud, peint en 1719. Antoine Jos …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville — Dezallier d’Argenville. Gravure de Vanghelisty en 1775 d’après le tableau perdu de Hyacinthe Rigaud, peint en 1719. Antoine Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville, né le 1er  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Antoine Nicolas Dezallier d'Argenville — ne pas confondre avec son père Antoine Joseph Dezallier d Argenville (1680 1765) Antoine Nicolas Dezallier d Argenville est un naturaliste et critique d art français né à Paris le 27 août 1723 et mort dans la même ville le… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dézalier d'Argenville — Antoine Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville Antoine Joseph Dézallier d’Argenville (* 1. Juli 1680 in Paris; † 29. November 1765) war ein französischer Gelehrter, Naturhistoriker und Verfasser zahlreicher gartentheoretischer Schriften. Sein Buch La… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hyacinthe Rigaud — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Rigaud. Hyacinthe Rigaud …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”