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Brief
history
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A
Renaissance Water Garden
There is enough documentation concerning the park as it appeared from 1550 to 1660 to reconstruct its history from an even earlier date. When Cosme Clausse bought the manor, the grounds were devoid of any real garden. His château was built on two platforms surrounded by moats, which still exist today. He and his son Pierre acquired the necessary land to design a park and gain access to and control of the Ecole river and some of the many springs, which were one of the main attractions. The site proved ideal for creating a water garden: flat grassy surfaces criss-crossed by a series of canals, framing islands, all running along planted pathways. The network of canals was practical as well, facilitating drainage and irrigation, increasing the stock of fish and protecting the garden from livestock and game. The water garden, which existed in virtually all water-covered areas-sixteenth-century Veneto and the Low Countries in the seventeenth-century-was implemented by King François I in the 1540s in the Grand Jardin and the Pine Garden around the Château de Fontainebleau. The Clausse family was certainly familiar with this form. The Clausse's plan for the layout, which was somewhat limited due to economic or topographical reasons, nevertheless determined the overall design for the western and northern limits of the park. Canals surrounded the Pré Bernay (preserved until the early nineteenth century) according to a "meadow on an island" design, bordered the Allée d'Honneur (currently the pièce d'eau des Platanes simples and the pièce d'eau des Platanes doubles) and extended the moats towards the village. The canals created an effect of shimmering, murmuring waters flowing level with the grass, illustrating how nature could be tamed, a much-appreciated effect at the time. This design gave the gardens a modern, albeit unremarkable, appearance. To make them more memorable the Clausses had to innovate. They did so by adding a feature called the Dôme to the park that, judging by what remains of it, was rather discreet. They also added two other more spectacular features, the Grand Canal and the Salle d'Eau. The Dôme grotto was simpler than the one built for the king at Fontainebleau or the one for the Cardinal of Lorraine in Meudon. Yet, it was original and highly refined in design, shape and location (on an island), which heightened the sense of mystery one can still feel today. For the Clausse family, the addition of a Grand Canal at Courances had been viewed as an absolute necessity since Cosme dug the 1,200-metre one at Fleury-en-Bière in 1550-and this long before the King created the Grand Canal at Fontainebleau, which dates from 1604! This first canal had given Cosme a taste of the sheer aesthetic appeal of such an installation, which was the first of its kind to flow through a French-style garden. But he also experienced the financial burden and technical difficulties involved in such an undertaking, and decided to limit the Grand Canal at Courances to 600 metres. The canal was fed by water diverted from the Ecole river; the contrast between "wild water" and "tame water" flowing side by side was an intentional stylistic effect. The Clausse family also invented the Salle d'Eau, a trapezoid-shaped 4,700-square-metre pool, surrounded by fourteen sandstone gueulards ("loud-mouths", sculpted heads of monsters spouting water, in two rows facing one another). The basin, unique in its kind, was a visual and auditory delight for the château's inhabitants and made the stroll from the river to the village a sensational experience. These benefits were in mind when the Salle d'Eau was re-created in the early twentieth century, larger than the old one by 2,000 square metres. These spectacular formal features contrasted with the rather banal appearance of the residence. Claude I Gallard had the château rebuilt in 1627. The modernization project prompted him to think once more about the park's surface and design. He expanded the property to the south and the east, areas filled with springs. His son, Claude II, who was very wealthy, continued to acquire land and embellish the gardens. It was undoubtedly he who, in the 1640s, ordered the construction of a large pathway leading from the château to the Rond de Moigny pool to the south of the park, today the Trois Grâces lawn. This unusually broad alleyway was lined with narrow canals (all have disappeared except the Nappes), and led to a circular pool of water, close to the village of Moigny. Beyond lay an artificially elevated grassy hemicycle that made the view from the château a great deal more dramatic. Courances was cutting edge in terms of fashion: similar pathways were laid out at Coulommiers, Pont-sur-Yonne and Liancourt, lined by canals opposite the castle. These gardens no longer exist. Courances is undoubtedly the most beautiful example in France of these Renaissance water gardens. By 1660, the park had acquired its desired surface. The formal composition and hydraulics in the low-lying areas were laid out in a design that would remain for a long time. The planted areas were arranged to form a large grassy swath with a palisade around it culminating in a half-moon design (where the future Miroir would be built). Pleasure prevailed over the practical, yet allowed it to co-exist. The ensemble had been elaborated step by step without the involvement of the famous names in garden design.
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