Drawings of the Garden of Le Jardin des Colombières, Menton, France.

On August 15, 1859 Ferdinand-Sigismond Bach was born in Stuttgart Germany. He was the son of Karl Philipp Heinrich Bach an illegitimate son of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia and brother of Napoleon I.  Bach was the great nephew of Napoleon I and second cousin of Napoleon III. At In Paris Bac attended the Ecole Des Beaux Arts and was introduced to the French society of Wagner, Victor Hugo and others. Bac is most noted as a cartoonists and illustrator and throughout his life Bac was connected with the elite and interacted with individuals such as Marcel Proust and Caran d’ Ache. 

The transformation to landscape evolved out of fascination with the Moorish gardens of Southern Spain and Northern Africa. In particular his travels to the gardens of the Alhambra and Generalife provided lasting influences. The sensuousness of the Islamic gardens with the interweaving of vegetation, architecture, water and sky were to become transformed in the context of Southern France and the Cote d’ Azur. The romanticism of the Mediterranean in conjunction with the mystic qualities of the Islamic Gardens lured Bac to Southern France in the early part of the 20th century.     

For health reasons Bac began working in southern France, with his most notable work being in the town of Menton, which lies adjacent to the Italian border. It was in Menton that he began working with the landscape and designing a series of gardens. Using the traditions of the Mediterranean with influences from Moorish Gardens, he created his garden Jardines les Colombieres, the Garden of the Doves also known as the Garden of Ulysses. The garden is set on a hillside facing the town and the Mediterranean. The garden is a fantasy of pavilions, follies, nymphaeum and a Mausoleum connected through a landscape of paths and sensuous vegetation. An allee of Cyprus trees forms a channel of steps leading from the Spanish Pool to the nymphaeum situated at the midpoint of the garden. A bridge to a 1000-year-old Carob tree leads the visitor from the Trompe l’oeil garden and villa continually winding up the hillside until reaching the Mausoleum at the pinnacle of the garden. Bac utilizes landscape elements and architecture that provides a sensuous intersection that links architecture, landscape and sky to create a place of repose and contemplation. The garden incorporates Greek mythologies as the paths and vegetation lead you on an excursion through fantasy embedded in reality. The gentle movement through the landscape with windows to the rich blue of the Mediterranean sky framed by the Cypress trees is contrasted by the soft ground texture of the soil and the dappled sunlight from the vegetation. The Mediterranean breeze allows the aroma of the vegetation to drift gently across the landscape creating a melancholy of emotions. 

The garden embraces the topography, sky and vegetation raising our senses and helping us to become aware of how humans and nature can choreograph a series of experiences to see the world in new ways. 

Drawings of Islamic Gardens:

 The following drawings represent the ideas underlying the traditions of Islamic Garden. The gardens are symbolic of recreating paradise on earth. Most typically the garden is revealed in a courtyard setting embedded within walls and homes. The citadel of the garden provides shade, humidity and a sensuous environment while being protected from the harsh climate outside. The courtyard is full of lush vegetation set within an orthogonal geometry. The geometry is most often defined by shallow channels of water representing the four rivers of life. 

 Originally water arrived at the courtyards and settlements through a Qanat. The Qanat consisted of series of vertical wells that began at the foothills of the mountains where the water table was sufficiently high. The vertical wells were then connected horizontally to bring water to the town and gardens. 

 Other drawings in this series illustrate the Patio de la Acequia of the gardens of the Generalife adjacent to the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Overall plans of the Generalife and the Alhambra are supplemented by drawings that illustrate the original Gardens of Isfahan, Iran as well as a drawings of the Palace of forty columns.