the site, so that the canal is invisible from the house, and employed forced perspective to make the grotto appear closer than it really is. The gardens were complete by 1661, when Fouquet held a grand entertainment for the king. But only three weeks later, on 10 September 1661, Fouquet was arrested for embezzling state funds, and his artists and craftsmen were taken into the king's service. Versailles From 1661, Le Nôtre was working for Louis XIV to build and enhance the garden and parks of the Château de Versailles. Louis extended the existing hunting lodge, eventually making it his primary residence and seat of power. Le Nôtre also laid out the radiating city plan of Versailles, which included the largest avenue yet seen in Europe, the Avenue de Paris. In the following century, the Versailles design influenced Pierre Charles L'Enfant's master plan for Washington, D.C. See, L'Enfant Plan. Other gardens France In 1661, Le Nôtre was also working on the gardens at the Palace of Fontainebleau. In 1663 he was engaged at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and Château de Saint-Cloud, residence of Philippe d'Orléans, where he would oversee works for many years. Also from 1663, Le Nôtre was engaged at Château de Chantilly, property of the Prince de Condé, where he worked with his brother-in-law Pierre Desgots until the 1680s. From 1664 he was rebuilding the gardens of the Tuileries, at the behest of Colbert, Louis's chief minister, who still hoped the king would remain in Paris. In 1667 Le Nôtre extended the main axis of the gardens westward, creating the avenue which would become the Champs-Élysées. Colbert commissioned Le Nôtre in 1670, to alter the gardens of his own château de Sceaux, which was ongoing until 1683. Abroad In 1662, he provided designs for Greenwich Park in London, for Charles II of England. In 1670 Le Nôtre conceived a project for the Castle of Racconigi in Italy, and between 1674 and 1698 he remodelled the gardens of Venaria Reale, near Turin. In 1679, he visited Italy. His later advice was provided for Charlottenburg Palace and château de Cassel in Germany, and with plans for Windsor Castle. Final works Between 1679 and 1691, he was involved in the planning of the gardens of Château de Meudon for François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois. His work has often been favorably compared and contrasted ("the antithesis") to the œuvre of Lancelot "Capability" Brown, the English landscape architect. List of principal gardens by Le Nôtre Gardens of Versailles, city plan of Versailles Gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte Gardens of Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye Gardens of Château de Saint-Cloud (the château no longer stands but the gardens still exist) Gardens of Palais des Tuileries Gardens of Château de Sceaux Gardens of Château de Fontainebleau Gardens of Château de Chantilly Gardens of Château de Bercy (demolished), Charenton-le-Pont Gardens of Gardens of Château d'Issy (demolished) In popular culture André Le Nôtre was played by Matthias Schoenaerts in the 2015 film A Little Chaos. See also 17th-century French art Baroque architecture French garden design history: Gardens of the French Renaissance French formal garden French landscape garden Notes References Hazlehurst, F. Hamilton (1980). Gardens of Illusion: The Genius of André Le Nostre. Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press. . {{cite book |author= Mariage, Thierry |year=1999 |title=The World of André Le Nôtre, |translator= Graham Larkin |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_HHAhD92gQC&lpg=PP1 |page=xi |isbn=0-8122-3468-5}} Further reading Thompson, Ian. The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, André Le Nôtre And the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006 (hardcover, ). Reviewed by Peter Parker in the Telegraph, 1 October 2006. Reviewed by John Adamson