Georges Louis Le Rouge

Georges Louis Le Rouge (* around 1707 in Hanover ; † around 1790 ) was a cartographer , architect , draftsman and engraver . He was also active as an editor and publisher of his own extensive prints. His late work under the collective name Jardins anglo-chinois à la mode documents numerous gardens and garden designs.

origin

Plan of Favorite near Mainz , 1779

The life story of Le Rouge is only partially known and raises many questions. Le Rouge is very likely the son of the French architect Louis Remy de la Fosse . He dealt with geography at an early age and was prepared by his father for the profession of engineer and architect. During a stay in France, Le Rouge seems to have used his later name rather than his father's name for the first time. The reasons for the name change are not known.

life and work

After his father's death in Darmstadt in 1726 , Le Rouge seems to have continued his unfinished work on a major plan for Darmstadt. At what point in time Le Rouge left Darmstadt is unclear; for the period from 1727 to 1732 there is no information about his whereabouts. Maybe he had married the first time. During this time he began to draw maps, such as the map of Alsace in five large sheets. There must have been a great need for maps for military purposes; Le Rouge also made maps in the Polish Succession War (1733 to 1735).

From 1736 Le Rouge lived in Paris , and in 1741 he married probably for the second time. From 1738 he was also in the service of Moritz von Sachsen with the title of lieutenant . His map series about Holland (21 sheets) was published in 1744. Since 1747, Le Rouge also imported maps from England, his partner was John Rocque . Between orders for military maps he created, among other things, the Atlas d'Allemagne , a map series of one hundred sheets published in 1759, which included a written description of Germany.

Engraving of a building in the Désert de Retz

Late work

After a major business crisis in 1773, Le Rouge began to include garden plans and garden views in its program and to discontinue cartographic work. His representations of garden art give a detailed picture of the new English garden style , which is freeing itself from strict geometric forms . Before Horace Walpole, Le Rouge used the term jardin anglo-chinois . From 1775 onwards a work of 492 copperplate engravings in the format 32 × 44 cm, some larger and folded, was created, which appeared in irregular succession, compiled into landscape format large folio booklets ( cahiers ) . Many sheets contain additional secondary motifs; Le Rouge produced a total of around 1500 detailed views. Many of the engravings were commissioned by aristocratic gardeners. With the French Revolution in 1789, Le Rouge is likely to have lost its French customers. His traces are lost; he died after 1790, possibly not until 1793 or 1794. His last work was the twenty-first issue, created in 1789, which contains only six copper engravings. Despite his old age, Le Rouge had received an order from Count Louis Guillaume Cédric de Bentheim-Steinfurt (1756-1817).

The work on the jardin anglo-chinois provides numerous details about gardens of the 18th century in France, England, Germany and Italy. Examples are Kew Garden , Stowe House , Sanssouci (Potsdam) and the Park of Ermenonville , models for the English garden in Wörlitz . Le Rouge's work is therefore an important historical source. In addition, it contains many drafts, is full of ideas and also deals with Chinese models.

Works

• Succession De Charles VI. En Italy. Le Duché De Milan, De Mantoue, De Parme Et De Plaisance: Suivant les Nouvelles Observations . - Paris: LeRouge, 1742. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• La Zelande: avec une partie de la Flandre Hollandoise Tirée des meillieurs Cartes, du pais même . - Paris: LeRouge, 1747. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• L'Empire D'Allemagne: Divisé par Cercles; R APD . - Paris: LeRouge, 1742. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• L'Italie: Dressée sur les Dern. res observations . - Paris: LeRouge, 1743. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• The Les curiositez de Paris, de Versailles, de Marly, de Vincennes, de S. Cloud, et des environs: avec les antiquitez justes & précises sur chaque sujet are wrongly ascribed to him in 1716 (i.e. in his childhood) ; et les adresses pour trouver facility tout ce que ces lieux renferment d'agréable et d'utile . - Saugrain, Paris 1716.

literature

• Véronique Royet et al. a .: Georges Louis Le Rouge. Les jardins anglo-chinois . Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7177-2308-0 (Graveurs de XVIIIe siècle; 15).
• Lauterbach, Iris: Georges-Louis Le Rouge: Détail des nouveaux jardins à la mode (reprint of the Paris edition 1775–1790). Uhl, Nördlingen 2009, ISBN 9783921503997 (publications of the Central Institute for Art History in Munich; 23.)
• Bernard Korzus: Bagno - Neo-Gothic - Le Rouge. Postponed contributions to European garden research. 2008. (Communications from the Pückler Society , New Series; 23.) ISSN  1861-8022 .

Web links

Commons : Georges-Louis Le Rouge  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Detail des nouveaux jardins a la mode Paris, Le Rouge, 1777 in Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture