“I am grateful to you for the honour that Your Majesty has done me by increasing the number of your household officers in my person.”1
The above words were addressed to Louis XIV by one of his subjects. Was this the beginning of a speech by a troop commander? Or that of a new general in the royal army? Neither; they were the words of Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, a lawyer and philosopher who was invited by the king to cultivate the vegetable garden and orchard that were to supply the court at Versailles.
Far from feeling demeaned, La Quintinie felt dignified with the task of cultivating vegetables and fruit. After all, his ideal did not lie in the wild and marshy land that fell under his gaze, but in the greatness of the monarch who had summoned him to this mission.
Statue of La Quintinie erected on the royal garden – Palace of Versailles (France)
In fact, Jean-Baptiste had been enamoured of gardens ever since he visited Italy and later sought to deepen his horticultural knowledge in England. On his return to France, he began to create some private gardens, until being invited to work on the royal gardens.
Dedication disposed to hard work
Despite the magnificence of the palace, the construction of which had been completed just a few years earlier, the area destined for the potager du roi was inhospitable, the marsh had to be drained, dykes had to be built, better quality soil had to be transported and levelled…
None of this was an obstacle for Jean-Baptiste. His only aspiration was to make the nobility of the Sun King shine on that piece of land. Whatever the cost, there would be a vegetable garden and an orchard worthy of him and his reign.
After meticulous planning, he set to work. The first step in making the land useful was, as a pale image of God in creation, to separate the waters from the earth (cf. Gn 1:9-10). To this end, an artificial lake was created, dug by the Swiss Guard regiment, then in the service of France. This reservoir would be used extensively to irrigate the garden.
Five years went into the work of preparing the site. Finally, with the help of architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, a wall was built around the potager. A kind of terrace was also built around the centre of the garden, from where the king could follow the work in progress or even spend time taking in the scenery.
More than a vegetable garden…
Geometrically perfect, the garden was divided into square beds, which were further divided into other squares, all intended for planting, in the centre of which stood a fountain, also for irrigation purposes.
A marvellous orchard completed the ensemble and covered many of the adjacent hectares. Various types of apple trees were grown there, and there was no shortage of figs and pears, the latter being one of the king’s favourite fruits.
We can imagine La Quintinie idealizing his orchard as if it were a beautiful garden: instead of flowering bushes, strawberries and raspberries; where beautiful tulips would fit, purple and green cabbages would alternate; rose bushes would be replaced by tomatoes; the cheerful yellow flowers would give way to pumpkins; the scent of lilies was exchanged for that of rosemary, sage, basil and other aromatic herbs.
Jean-Baptiste carried out his work so well that the garden soon became one of the monarch’s calling cards, where he brought many of his guests, as it was truly admirable to see how the most beautiful and attractive garden in Europe had been born from the simplicity of vegetables and fruit.
At the court of the Roi Soleil, fruit and vegetables also became a powerful diplomatic weapon… Louis XIV sometimes sent them as gifts to various authorities, and sometimes served them to his illustrious visitors who were amazed and surprised to find fresh vegetables and fruit on the table outside the usual harvest season for each species.
The main fertilizer: unpretentiousness combined with admiration
An absolutist, but not a tyrant, Louis XIV was above all a wise king. He wanted to be great, and to achieve this he knew how to harness the talents of great men. When he summoned Jean-Baptiste to begin cultivation at the newly built Palace of Versailles, he gave him an arduous task which, if carried out well, could in time make his loyal subject famous. This celebrity, however, would in no way overshadow the monarch’s brilliance, but would lend it greater lustre.
Everything indicates that Jean-Baptiste performed his duties with true dedication and unpretentiousness. Evidence of this can be found not only in his masterly work, but also in the book he decided to write years later to help others cultivate gardens and plants.
In the book’s dedication, he showed the nobility of his sentiments, recognizing the success of the enterprise not in himself, but in His Majesty. And he rejoiced: “The hope of a success similar to the one that elevated me to such a fine position may encourage many people in the study of gardening and, therefore, raise up for Your Majesty more skilful servants than myself; that, sire, is truly what I desire most ardently in this world.”2 Only an admiring and unpretentious man can hold the hope that there may be others much better than himself to serve someone!
If today that garden, even though lacking the beauty of yesteryear, can still delight those who visit it or come to learn of its story, it is owing to the conjugation of two virtues: the unpretentiousness of a subject who only wished to worthily serve his monarch, and the admiration of a monarch who knew how to foster his subject’s talent. This is how the children of the Holy Catholic Church should live together, in a symphony of admiration and mutual support. ◊
Notes
1 LA QUINTINIE, Jean-Baptiste de. Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers. Paris: Claude Barbin, 1690, t.I, p.III.
2 Idem, ibidem.
