Photograph by George Angus
The men were eager to get started
and engage in the work.
Exodus 36:2 (The Message)
Last week I finished the Versailles planter (some call it a
Versailles tub as well) I made for a prospective client through the inspiration
of our friend Sonja. I used Saligna for its durability and stability. The design is a fine example of complicated
simplicity. The end result exhibits these elegant clean lines delicately broken
by the round finials on the four corners. But hidden in that apparent
simplicity is an array of joints and cuts that involve basically every tool in
the workshop.
Ken Tunnard gives valuable insight into the origins and
development of this interesting piece of garden furniture, used as containers
for small trees or shrubs and usually acting as focal points at entrances:
“While the origin of the Versailles planter is
not entirely clear, one assumes it would have made its appearance in the
elaborate palace gardens of Louis XIV. However, many of the ideas carried out
at the palace were first developed by landscape architect André Le Nôtre for
Louis XIV's finance minister, Nicholas Fouquet. The minister intended to erect
the most splendid château in France, complete with distinguished landscaping;
Vaux-le-Vicomte is one of the earliest examples of the flamboyant French
baroque style. Unfortunately, Fouquet made the mistake of inviting his boss to
the lavish housewarming party. Three weeks later the king had the minister
arrested for embezzlement. The château was confiscated and the landscape
architect was absorbed into royal service. Le Nôtre went on to design the
geometric gardens at the palace and presumably a version of the [Versailles] planter...”
Talk of soap
opera material – man’s vanity exhibited on a grand scale, the intricate web of palatial
politics and dreams of building and leaving signs of our existence.
Building the
Versailles planter here in 2013 according to the more than 300 year old designs
of a French landscape architect from the 1660’s gives one a sense of
connectedness to this stream we call humanity and its endeavours. Centuries ago,
somewhere in France, craftsmen applied the same principles that I am using to
give life to an idea. I am also reminded how simple beauty can survive and
outlive the dramatic turmoil amidst which it was born.
That we are
given the ability to create, complete with the raw material to be used, formed
and enjoyed – from that pure gift I shall never tire.
George
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