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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
Consider an episode from the history of landscape architecture. There once was a labyrinth in the gardens at Versailles. Located to the east of the Bassin d'Apollon and part of Le Nôtre's original plans for the garden, the Labyrinth achieved its final form in 1672. Among the many salles d'eau and bosquets, the Labyrinth was the most elaborate. Charles Perrault recommends it “for the novelty of its design and the number and diversity of its fountains.”
Il est nommé Labyrinte, parce qu'il s'y trouve une infunité de petites allées tellement mélées les unes dans les autres, qu'il est presque impossible de ne s'y pas égarer: mais aussi afin que ceux qui s'y perdent, puissent se perdre agréablement, il n'y a point de détour qui ne présente plusieurs Fontaines en mesme temps à la veûë, en sorte qu'à chaque pas on est surpris par quelque nouvel objet. (3–4)
[It is named Labyrinth because there are an infinity of little paths so mixed together that it is nearly impossible not to become lost; but in order that those who become lost, do so pleasantly, there is not a single turn that does not present several fountains to one's view, so that with each step one is surprised by a new object.]
The forty fountains, as Perrault's book with full-page engravings by Sébastien Le Clerc amply testifies, were themselves small marvels, each incorporating rocailles and lifelike painted lead sculpture to illustrate one of Aesop's fables.
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