Dominique Girard

This article deals with the garden architect Dominique Girard. For the film director, see Dominique Othenin-Girard .

Dominique Girard (* around 1680; † 1738 in Munich ) was a French garden architect and engineer. He played a decisive role in the baroque design of the palace gardens in Nymphenburg and Schleissheim near Munich, the Belvedere garden in Vienna and the garden of Augustusburg Palace in Brühl.

Life

Girard's origin, like his date of birth, is unknown. He was possibly a child of the architect Jean Girard. Dominique Girard probably first worked in the gardens of Saint-Cloud. From 1709 he worked in Versailles, where he acquired his knowledge of water technology and garden design.

Girard was made available in 1715 by the French King Louis XIV as "cy-devant garçon fontainier " to the Bavarian Elector Max Emanuel . In this way, Girard became garden inspector and maître fontainier ("fountain master") in the Nymphenburg palace gardens on April 1, 1715 . From 1715 he worked with Matthias Diesel and François de Cuvilliés the Elder . The work in Schleissheim was completed in 1727. Between 1717 and 1722 the Bavarian elector gave him leave of absence so that he could participate in the design of the Belvedere garden in Vienna together with Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt . He worked there in 1717, 1719 and 1722. In 1728/29 he created, again together with Cuvillies, the gardens of Augustusburg Castle in Brühl. One of his last works was the renovation of the large cascade in Nymphenburg (1731). His son Philipp, who had been adjoint to him in 1733, became the official successor.

Horticultural work

Although Girard specialized in the construction of artistic water features - he was a sought-after fontainier all his life - he also had a decisive influence on the planning. In Nymphenburg, among other things, he laid the two canals in front of and behind the palace building. His changes to the 1693 plan by Enrico Zuccalli for the garden of Schleissheim (Girard's plan: 1717), which, among other things, concern the pattern for the design of the garden parterre, deserve special mention. In the Belvedere garden he again created the water arts, but also designed garden areas. Here - in a departure from the classic French style - he used grass-covered embankments instead of lining walls to overcome height differences. In the garden of Augustusburg Castle, Girard was able to bring all the experiences of his previous work to full development.

Girard's main work is the Nymphenburg Palace Park in its baroque form and the design of the garden parterre in the Schleißheim Palace Park. In Schleissheim, Girard realized all three types of the parterre (broderie, flower and lawn parterre) in the style of his master André Le Nôtres in order to meet the elector's wishes for pomp ("Bavarian Versailles"), although they no longer corresponded to the prevailing garden fashion .

Attributed is Girard or its employees Moreau, the draft of the operation performed after 1722 redesign of the gardens of the Plettenberger court in the former residence of Electoral Cologne Bonn .

literature

• Max Hauttmann: The Bavarian court architect Joseph Effner. Strasbourg 1913.
• Walter Kordt: The gardens of Brühl. Cologne 1965.
• Wilfried Hansmann : Dominique Girard and Antoine Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville. About the art of designing parterres. In: Erika Schmidt [u. a.] (Ed.): Garden Art History. Festschrift for Dieter Hennebo on his 70th birthday. Worms am Rhein 1994, pp. 53-55.
• Creators des jardins et de paysages en France de la Renaissance au XXIe siècle. École Nationale Supérieure du Paysage. Sous la direction de Michel Racine. [Part] 1. Arles 2001, pp. 144-145.
• Rainer Herzog: Court gardener in Bavaria. In: Foundation Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg (Hrsg.): Prussian Green: Court gardeners in Brandenburg Prussia. Berlin 2004, p. 33f.
• W. Hansmann: Dominique Girard. In: General Artist Lexicon. The visual artists of all times and peoples. Volume 55. Saur, Munich, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-598-22795-0 , pp. 164-165.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wolf D. Penning: Caspar Anton von Belderbusch, his nephews and their Bonn city palace. On the history of the Belderbuscher (Boeselager) farm . In: Bonner Heimat- und Geschichtsverein, Stadtarchiv Bonn (ed.): Bonner Geschichtsblätter. Yearbook of the Bonner Heimat- und Geschichtsverein , Volume 57/58, Bonn 2008, ISSN  0068-0052 , pp. 147-184 (here: pp. 153 f.).