Jardin de Monceau

The duke of Chartres had Carmontelle build a picturesque ensemble in the Parc Monceau (1775-78). The multi-talented Carmontelle wrote plays, organised a literary salon and designed the Jardin de Monceau in Paris.

Carmontelle employed a German landscape architect named Etickhausen and the architect of the Duke, Bernard Poyet, to build the follies. The garden designed by Carmontelle was finished in 1779. It contained a miniature ancient Egyptian pyramid, a Roman colonnade, antique statues, a pond of water lilies, a Tatar tent, a farmhouse, a Dutch windmill, a temple of Mars, a minaret, an Italian vineyard, an enchanted grotto, and a Gothic building. In addition to the follies, the garden featured servants dressed in oriental and other exotic costumes, and unusual animals, such as camels.

The engraver of the print was Jean Charles Delafosse (1734-1789).