Vue aérienne du domaine de Versailles par ToucanWings 001

The French term ''patte d'oie'' (literally "goose foot", in English sometimes referred to as a "crow's foot") describes a design whereby three, four, or five or more straight roads or paths radiate out from a central point, so called from its resemblance to a goose's foot. The first use of the term dates from 1624, and the design became common in French gardens and

English gardens The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

of the late 17th century.Taylor 2006, p. 369. Typically it focused on the entrance front of a house, and the road on its central axis continued as the entrance drive. The idea for the ''patte d'oie'' may have originated in town planning schemes where roads converged onto a single space or feature, such as the

Piazza del Popolo Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars (''populus'' in Latin, ''pioppo'' in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It is often a feature of site plans for the grander French châteaux of the 17th and 18th centuries, in which the roads converge on an important element of the central axis. Examples include the

Château de Richelieu The Château de Richelieu was an enormous 17th-century château (manor house) built by the French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642) in Touraine. It was demolished for building materials in 1805 and almost nothing ...

(), the

Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (English: Palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte) is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne department of Île-de-France. Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fo ...

(), and the

Château de Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed ...

(). The château of Richelieu had three roads converging on a 300-ft. circle directly in front of the entrance gate. Vaux and Versailles each had designs for two ''pattes d'oie'', one focused on the entrance forecourt, and the other, on a far part of the garden.Hazlehurst 1980, pp. 19, 22, 70. File:Château de Richelieu, site plan drawing attributed to Lemercier – Gady 2011 p40.jpg, Site plan for the

(), drawing by

Jacques Lemercier Jacques Lemercier (c. 1585 in Pontoise – 13 January 1654 in Paris) was a French architect and engineer, one of the influential trio that included Louis Le Vau and François Mansart who formed the classicizing French Baroque manner, drawing ...

File:Site plan of Vaux-le-Vicomte, engraving by Israel Silvestre – Hazlehurst 1980, p. 22.jpg, Site plan for the

(), designed by

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed the gar ...

, engraved by

Israel Silvestre Israel Silvestre (13 August 1621 in Nancy – 11 October 1691 in Paris), called the Younger to distinguish him from his father, was a prolific French draftsman, etcher and print dealer who specialized in topographical views and perspectives ...

File:Versailles, site plan of 1664–1665 – BnF, Cabinet des Estampes, Va 448b – Hazlehurst 1980, p. 70.jpg, Site plan for the

(), designed by Le Nôtre

Notes

Bibliography

* Adams, William Howard (1979). ''The French Garden 1500–1800''. New York: George Brazilier. . * Boïelle, James (1903). ''Heath's French and English Dictionary''. Boston: D. C. Heath
Copy
at Google Books. * Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'', 2nd edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. . * Hazlehurst, F. Hamilton (1980). ''Gardens of Illusion: The Genius of André Le Nostre''. Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press. . * Taylor, Patrick (2006). ''The Oxford Companion to the Garden''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN, 9780815192268. Landscape architecture fr:Patte d'Oie