André Le Nôtre

Born 12 March 1613, Le Nôtre came up through the royal gardening tradition; his father served the Tuileries. Before Versailles, he collaborated with Louis Le Vau and Charles Le Brun on the park at Vaux-le-Vicomte, refining the strict symmetry and sweeping sightlines that would define the jardin à la française. Louis XIV made him principal gardener, and Le Nôtre answered with Versailles: parterres, fountains, and radial avenues that turned landscape into architecture. He also designed gardens at Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Saint-Cloud, and Saint-Germain, and at the Tuileries extended the westward vista that became the Champs-Élysées. He died 15 September 1700, having set the template for formal garden design across Europe.