Background / Tradition:
What led to the changes that
came about with the English landscape?
Extended interest by the
wealthy in art, especially the 17th century landscape paintings
of Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain, and Salvatore Rosa. The Romantic notion of the Arcadian
images depicted by these artists sought after by the wealthy.
Increase in travel by
the wealthy class (having seen some of these classic landscapes, the wealthy
returned home to copy them, almost using the garden as a physical diary).
Literature—writers
like Alexander Pope and Joseph Addison tried to turn the public away from the
overburden of French and Dutch design that had earlier been accepted in
England.
Spatial Organization:
These gardens are marked by
the opening up of the small enclosed garden to include more and more of the
landscape.
The abandonment of formality
in favor of natural, softer contours and features.
Balance and organic form
replaces symmetry and the axis.
A re-discovery of
nature—appreciation for her natural beauty.
These ideas were embraced by
the wealthy landed class who sought large land holdings.
Landscape parks were not
only beautiful, but also produced income—(grazing meadows for lease,
natural woodlands for timber).
Amenities / Components:
Some classic elements and
architecture in the early Arcadian landscapes:
winding lakes
naturally placed copses of
trees
shelter belt plantings
grassy meadows
native tree spp.
no hedges / no fences
roads are never straight
The English Victorian
Garden
Background / Tradition:
Belonging to the
“nouveau riche”
The new wealthy class,
wealth from industry (this period follows the great period of industrialization),
elevate social standing by flaunting wealth.
Spatial Organization:
A collection of garden
spaces—often separate garden rooms.
Several different design
styles (stylized copies of other approaches—Italian, French, English) are
represented.
A frenzied search for the
appropriate aesthetic for their newly acquired status.
Results: disconnected elements with no sense of
cohesion.
Cultural Environment /
Tastes / Fashion:
new wealth
no taste
showy
incoherent
Amenities / components:
carpet bedding
exotic plants
a combo of Italian, French
and English elements.
The Edwardian Garden
Background / Tradition:
New landowners (heirs and
new money) had a different idea of the garden.
Agriculture was not, as
before, an activity associated with their properties, thus no longer a need for
many acres.
Spatial Organization:
Informal style
Looking to create something
that is natural looking
Take lessons from nature.
Cultural Environment /
Tastes / Fashion:
This culture wanted a
peaceful tranquil landscape—a country estate.
Natural gardens are in
fashion.
Plants grow unhindered in
untamed compositions.
Artificiality of the formal
style is condemned.
Amenities / Components:
Self-seeding plants to
foster a self-cultivating garden.
Herbaceous borders of hardy
perennials, biennials, and annuals in informal drifts (often within formal
constraints of ordered geometries.