The systemisation of classical topomythopoiesis in seventeenth-century France

Abstract

With the influence of Italian Renaissance gardens on the gardening cultures of continental Europe during the seventeenth century, classical topomythopoiesis was exported to the grounds of the French aristocracy. Under the Apollonian glow of Louis XIV, Versailles was transformed from a hunting park into the Golden Age come true. The elaborate waterworks and extensive horticultural programme set the scene for iconographic conceits that sprung from a creative collective of writers and artists. This mythscape was augmented by an imagined mythland cultivated by a representational network of paintings, stories and theatrical productions. Initially, the reception of the topomyths depended on visitors’ familiarity with Greco-Roman mythology and broader cultural discourse. However, as the gardens became more accessible to the public, guidebooks sought to standardise visitors’ experiences with scripted interpretations. This article does not attempt a comprehensive inventory of Versailles’ topomyths, but instead explores how their reception oscillated between imaginative engagement and analytic interpretation, fitting an age both of wonderment and rationalisation. Finally, it examines how classical topomythopoiesis became increasingly systematised and disseminated through the most influential treatises of the period, notably Dézallier d’ Argenville’s La theorie et la pratique du jardinage.