Following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, many French Huguenots made their way to the Netherlands; as a result, from the 1680s on, designs of Dutch palaces and gardens increasingly came under the French influence. The rectangular garden, which had generally been moated and enclosed, started to give way to more extensive grounds, as this approach responded more to the surrounding countryside and relied on the effects of perspective. Nevertheless, the French influence rarely extended to the overall layout and was usually constrained to parterres and ornamentation.
Among the Huguenots fleeing France was the architect and engraver Daniel Marot (1661–1752), who would later leave Holland to work in England for William III of Orange, the king of Britain from 1689, and his co-monarch Queen Mary (1662–1694). Marot’s oeuvre was very diverse, ranging from important garden projects to architectural ornament, furniture, and even upholstery. Marot left a lasting influence on the decorative arts in the Netherlands, where his increasingly grand version of the Louis XIV style, seen in this design for a state bed, remained in vogue well into the 1730s.
Bibliography
- Oldenburger-Ebbers, Carla S. “Garden Design in the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century.” In The History of Garden Design: The Western Tradition from the Renaissance to the Present Day, edited by Monique Mosser and Georges Teyssot, 163–65. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000.
- Hopper, Florence. “Daniel Marot: A French Garden Designer in Holland.” In The Dutch Garden in the Seventeenth Century, edited by John Dixon Hunt, 131–58. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1990.
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