Daniel received his initial training in the workshop of his father, the architect Jean Marot. His earliest known work is a signed engraving produced as part of Jean Marot’s famous series known as The Grand Marot.
Still only in his late teens, Daniel Marot emigrated to the Netherlands where his skills as ‘Ornamentiste’ were immediately recognised. It did not take long before he turned his hand to architecture as well. Despite a lack of records about his exact contribution to projects as an architect, several attributed projects are known that span over his entire working career.
Marot worked extensively for the princely House of Orange, following them geographically within The Netherlands, modern-day Germany, and the British Isles. The remodeling of a medieval monastery into a royal palace for Princess Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau at Oranienstein provided him with a challenging project in 1706.
Records suggest that Marot likely provided the drawing for the design of the Marble Hall at Petworth. He has also been suggested as the architect for the decidedly French style, grand façade of this palatial house built for the 6th Duke of Somerset in 1692.
After the death of his royal patrons William & Mary, Marot returned to The Netherlands and found new clients amongst the courtly circles in The Hague and the wealthy mercantile class. For the Count of Wassenaer Obdam he designed a distinctive and unusual townhouse, grand enough to later be adapted as a royal residence.
Some of Marot’s architectural output relates to more ephemeral structures such as temporary triumphal arches, and also garden ornaments such as the cupola and shell grottoes at Rosendael Castle. Later changes to many of the sites he worked on, brought losses and misinterpretations of connected design principles that linked the interiors, objects, gardens, ornaments, and architecture.
