Le Blond, Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste

Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Le Blond, also called Jean-Baptiste-Alexandre Le Blond, (born 1679, Paris—died 1719, St. Petersburg, Russia), French landscape designer who designed the gardens for the palace of Peter I (the Great), at Peterhof, Russia.

Le Blond was brought up among the great French gardening families. He collaborated with André Le Nôtre in designs of parterres, which were published in an influential book on the theory and practice of gardening (1709) believed to have been written by A.J. d’Argenville. When Peter the Great began building his palace, Le Blond was summoned to Russia to create its garden in the manner of Versailles, with terraces, vistas, and fountains; it was the first great garden in Russia and part of the tsar’s Westernization program. Much damaged in World War II, the palace and gardens have been carefully restored.