Jardin de princes - in english
The creation of a garden testifies to the ability of princes and artists to reorder nature. In the 15th century, an aesthetic of harmony based on a body of theoretical thought largely contained in Leon Battista Alberti's De re ædificatoria, begun around 1450 and published in 1485, led to the ambition to articulate in a coherent whole the different parts contributing to the transformation of a natural site. In 1503, Pope Julius II commissioned Bramante to design the monumental layout of the Vatican, linking the Apostolic Palace and the Villa del Belvedere via an immense courtyard lined with galleries and divided into three terraces. The creation of a garden, a form of victory over the inconveniences of the site, contributed to the glory of the princes, but also to that of eminent figures, by arousing their emulation. Views such as that of Cardinal Hippolyte d'Este's famous villa in Tivoli, published in 1573 by Étienne Dupérac, contributed to the international prestige of the most remarkable of these creations. As for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who commissioned the famous Grotto of the Animals in Castello, described by Montaigne in November 1580, writers and poets praised the prodigies he accomplished in the city and foreshadowed in his gardens. Those of the Petraia shine out in Clorilli (circa 1590), a pastoral tragicomedy specially composed in honour of the Grand Duchess Christine of Lorraine.
Dramaturgy of the Shakespearean garden
The plays and sonnets of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) contain many references to gardens. Twenty-nine scenes in his plays, particularly the great historical tragedies, take place in a garden. The characters appear in a variety of attitudes: simple strolling, conversation marked by a certain freedom, with a symbolic distance from the neighbouring rooms of the palaces of power, or concealment, hidden love affairs, etc. The comedy Love's labour's lost, written in 1594-1595, which offers a brilliant commentary on love, the temptress woman and the weapons of seduction, takes place in the park of the château of Ferdinand of Navarre, whom we must identify with Henri of Navarre, the future King of France, Henri IV.
The idea of the garden is that of a theatre played alongside the theatre, with a sometimes highly political message: governing is gardening. The rich and powerful, greedy and disloyal, have invaded England under Richard II: so the "chief gardener", i.e. the king, should "cut off the heads of those suckers that grow too fast", because "everything must be on the same level under our government" (Richard II, Act III, sc. 4).
The reference to the Garden of Eden, whether explicit ("Adam était jardinier" (Henry VI, Part II, Act IV, sc. 2) or underlying, inspires an essential metaphor. The Fall, man's hard labour on ungrateful soil, leaves its mark on the Shakespearean garden, "parcelle délaissée qu’il faut cultiver, [...] espace vulnérable qu’il faut protéger, [...] retraite dont la beauté est éphémère et la paix temporaire" (Katherine Attié).