medical doctor
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
and
medical research
Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...
er born in Don Benito (Spain), who acquired and restored Château de Villandry and the creator of its spectacular
garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
s, recovering the French soul of the construction from 1536.
Joaquín Carvallo studied in the Universidad Complutense de
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
and became a brilliant doctor. He travelled to Paris to work in the team of Dr Charles Richet, who was honored with the Physician
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
in 1913. While working with Richet's medical research team he met by chance an intern from
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Lebanon ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,814 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
Lebanon was founded by George Steitz in 1740 and was originally named ...
called Ann Coleman, who inherited an important business. She fell in love with the Spanish doctor while discussing the war that the US was launching against Spain to conquer Cuba (1898). The couple left Paris and found a peaceful place to live with their eldest daughter, Isabelle and their three younger sons, where they built a splendid Spanish art collection from the 17th century, that Carvallo and Coleman. It can be admired today on the walls of the castle (including the work of artists like Zurbarán, Alonso Cano, Juan de Arellano, & Berruguete).
Thanks to Anne Coleman's money after years of searching, they bought the Château de Villandry in the
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Loire Valley and began the dream of Joaquín Carvallo of restoring and improving the once magnificent château and its French styled gardens. Today, the gardens are a major tourist attraction, visited by the public at large and horticulturalists from around the world. Henri Carvallo, the doctor's great grandson, is the owner of Villandry and continues to enhance and expand the château's gardens.