The garden at Ermenonville was one of the earliest and finest examples of the English garden (jardin anglais) in France. The garden at Ermenonville was planned by Count Louis-René Girardin, friend and final patron to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Girardin's master plan drew its inspiration from Rousseau's novels and philosophy of the nobility of Nature. Rousseau's tomb, in fact, is prominently situated on the man-made island in the lake at Ermenonville. Louis-René Girardin was probably assisted in the design by the painter Hubert Robert. Created with care and craft, the garden came to resemble a natural environment, almost a wilderness, appearing untouched by any human intervention.
It was much visited and admired during the early 19th century. The garden at Ermenonville was described by Louis-René's son in 1811 in an elegant tour-book with aquatint plates that reveal Girardin's love of diverse vistas that capture painterly landscape effects. Enhancing the elegiac mood of these views were the altars and monuments, the 'Rustic Temple', and other details meant to evoke Rousseau's La Nouvelle Héloïse.
Nearby is Rousseau's 'cabin' in the secluded désert of Ermenonville.
See also: Ermenonville air disaster