The Landscape Garden

The landscape garden was a substantial change from the baroque garden, which dominated much of the continent throughout the previous century. Since the baroque style was created in France, the British were naturally opposed to it, and sought to make major changes to their garden design. Enter the landscape garden, which was essentially the exact opposite of the baroque, with flowing lines and rolling hills.

Charles Bridgeman was one of the first proponents of this new garden style, and he provided an important transition between the formality of the Baroque and the informality of the Landscape. His gardens still featured a central axis and some straight lines, but some curved paths also began to appear. The parterres were still present, but the formality of the garden was disappearing, and so were the walls that previously enclosed the gardens. Bridgeman is particularly noteworthy because of the invention of the fossé, now called the ha-ha, which is a sunken wall that is hidden from view, allowing the garden to merge with the surrounding landscape. It is thought that the inspiration for this garden came from medieval moats and canals, which were often relatively narrow and difficult to see until the viewer closely approached the medieval castle. The wall was used as a way to trick the viewer into thinking that the garden was much larger than it actually was, thus making the garden, and its owner, much more impressive and imposing. This larger-than-life garden was appealing to owners because it provided a way to escape the confines, and stress, of daily life, and instead allowed them to become more fully immersed in their mythical paradise that seemed to stretch to, and beyond, the horizons.

A Bridgeman garden, which appears slightly more natural
than the formal Baroque style, but still has a central axis
and straight lines

Yet Bridgeman’s garden wasn’t perfect; there is an uneasy tension between the two styles, with a strange mixture of formal water features near informal ponds, and parterres next to carefully designed fields and forests. William Kent began to resolve these problems by focusing more fully on the landscape, and leaving the formality of the French baroque behind. Kent found his inspiration from art, which reflects his artistic training earlier in life. In essence, his gardens were inspired by beautiful paintings, and he sought to sculpt nature to conform to an ideal. The central axis and straight lines of the past rapidly disappeared, and were replaced by curved lines and meandering pathways throughout the garden. Since he wanted to replicate paintings, he frequently constructed buildings, ancient ruins, and beautiful vistas, all of which appeared natural, but were in fact entirely manmade. His garden, then, was nothing but a theater; the plants, forests, and lakes were all actors, with carefully designed costumes and controlled emotions. In fact, it is believed that many of his gardens represent the concept of exempla virtutis, in which his gardens told stories that taught critical moral lessons about humanity. As a person strolled through the garden, they might come upon carefully placed statues and temples, which told an important story, but only to those that were highly educated in ancient mythology.

A Kent Garden, which shows gently rolling hills and a carefully placed "ancient" building

Capability Brown often worked in collaboration with Kent, although Brown’s landscapes tended to be subtler. Brown very infrequently used buildings or statues in his gardens, and instead relied on subtle sculpting of the landscape itself; nature, according to Brown, was inherently beautiful, but had “capability” to be improved. His gardens featured gently rolling hills and perfectly placed trees that were designed to show off the beauty of Earth. Some would call his gardens sparse, and, indeed, it is difficult to tell that the landscape is manipulated, let alone painstakingly designed. The manmade rivers, lakes, and forests looked entirely natural and unspoiled by human interaction. But that is precisely the point. Nature, in its purest form, was something that should be appreciated, and this message is quite obvious when walking through a Capability Brown garden. It isn’t hard to mistake a natural field for a garden, and one could argue that Brown would be happy if you did.

A Capability Brown garden, which looks much like a natural, untouched landscape

Sources:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/883610

http://www.jstor.org/stable/877243

Images

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http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/stowe_ancient_virtue/original/stowe_ancient_virtue_original.jpg

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