The Style of the Most Influential Designers of the 18th Century English Landscape Movement: William Kent, Lancelot "Capability" Brown, and Charles Bridgeman

Julián Huertas

27 March 2015

Professor Musgrave

Garden Art in European History

Blog Post Six:

For the three most influential designers and innovators of in the18th century English Landscape Movement - Charles Bridgeman, William Kent & ‘Capability’ Brown - write a brief paragraph to describe the style - form, layout, content, purpose - of their landscapes.

 

            William Kent (1685-1748), Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1717-1783), and Charles Bridgeman (1690-1738) are the most famous designers of the 18^th century English Landscape Movement.  In this blog post, I will analyze the style – the form, layout, content, and purpose – of each respective English designers landscapes.

            William Kent was a proponent of the picturesque landscape. His most famous projects include Chiswick House in Chiswick, Rousham House in Oxfordshire, and Stowe House in Buckinghamshire. He combined art and nature to create classically inspired landscapes. His design is noted for closely representing the landscape paintings like those of French painters Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. He appealed to emotions and moods with his landscapes and idealized nature. He utilized soft lines and edges, classical temples, and “borrowed views,” in which he drew the eye into the landscape and natural landscape beyond. Although brilliant, Kent was known for being both unreliable and impractical.  He could create terrific 2D representations in plan but was not knowledgeable about how to turn these into actual designs. His purpose for designing was for profit and to create an idealized landscape. Kent’s style and inability to be practical contrast to both Brown and Bridgeman.

            Lancelot “Capability” Brown is potentially England’s most famous landscape designer. He designed numerous gardens and landscapes across the UK, but his most famous projects are Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and the Hampton Court gardens in Surrey. He began his career designing gardens for big estates but transitioned later in his career to designing massive landscapes. Rather than appealing to the classicism of earlier designers and landscapes, he used the nature of England as an inspiration. The function of his landscapes was for pleasure but also for profit. At both Stowe House and Blenheim Palace he sculpted and designed the landscapes to have large open spaces, trees, lakes, and water channels. The greatest irony of Brown’s designing career was that he was brilliantly subtle with his designs. It is for this reason that Sir Horace Walpole is noted for saying that Brown’s work will be forgotten because he copied nature so well that it does not look like the hand of man influenced the design.  Unlike Kent, Brown was practical and successfully implemented his designs on a massive scale.  

            Charles Bridgeman began by working on several ornate estates across England but his most famous work is on Stowe House in Buckinghamshire. Bridgeman has a unique style that combines traditional, transitional, and progressive styles. These are comprised of parterres, avenues, and lakes (traditional); garden buildings and lawn amphitheaters (transitional); and borrowed views, in which the eye is drawn into the manmade landscape and natural landscape beyond. Bridgeman’s most famous feature that he created is the ha-ha. He created this ditch when separating Kensington Gardens from Hyde Park for Queen Caroline. It is used as a natural separation that also usefully deters animals from going onto land. Thus, in a similar manner to Brown, Bridgeman was successfully able to implement his designs in landscapes – not just plans and ideas like Kent – and became known for his eclectic style and for the innovative landscape feature of the ha-ha that became used around the UK.

Here is a website that describes the history of the ha-ha, where the ha-ha is mentioned in literature, and where the ha-ha is utilized in gardens and landscapes across the UK.

Claude Lorrain's 1661 "Landscape with the Rest on The Flight into Egypt."  William Kent designed his landscapes with
this type of classical painting in mind to create an idealized, picturesque landscape.

The massive Blenheim Palace landscape by Lancelot "Capability"Brown. This landscape demonstrates the reason why Sir Horace Walpole noted that Brown’s work will be forgotten. Brown copied nature so well that it does not look like the hand of man influenced the design.

Case and point of the function of Charles Bridgeman's innovative ha-ha feature for gardens. It is used as a natural ditch that separates land and also usefully deters animals from going onto land.

Divinity, Power, and Prestige - The Versailles Palace and Gardens

Julián Huertas

19 March 2015

Professor Musgrave

Garden Art in European History

Blog Post Five:

Without simply repeating the lecture notes explain why Versailles Palace and Gardens were built, and the role they played during the rule of King Louis XIV.

            The Versailles Palace and Gardens as we know today began in the 1660s when Louis XIV ordered for the remodeling of the former hunting lodge of his father. The construction occurred throughout the rest of the century to produce a monumental, majestic display of power and greatness. In this blog post, I will analyze the three primary reasons why the palace and gardens were built and the role they played during the rule of King Louis, who was in rule from 1643 to 1715.

            The first reason for the design and construction of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles was for Louis to display the divinity, power, and prestige of himself. Louis believed in the divine right of kings. In short, he believed that God crowned him as the King of France and that he himself was divine. Thus, a massive palace and gardens unlike any other in history would display his divinity to France and the rest of Europe. As European power was volatile at the time, it was important for any monarch or king to assert his strength and power. The palace and gardens were a physical and aesthetic way to do this. How Louis related this to the political and social dynamic of France leads to the second point.

            The second reason for the design and construction of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles was for Louis to consolidate power away from the royals and nobility of France.  Ever since The Fronde, the civil wars in France from 1648 to 1653, Louis XIV had been skeptical about the royals and nobility in France. He did not trust them and feared they would mutiny for power of France. Thus, Louis made Versaille the seat of government. Not only was Versaille splendid and ornate, but it was also located outside of Paris. By having all royals and noblemen live at the palace, Louis consolidated his kingly power and wealth. He provided housing, food, and entertainment to the noblemen to keep them happy and satisfied. As a result, Versaille was a palace and gardens of control – a gilded cage. Louis XIV could look over all noblemen and, thus, maintain his power.

            The third reason for the design and construction of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles was to represent the power and greatness of France itself.  As mentioned above, the palace and gardens displayed the divinity, power, and prestige of Louis XIV but it was additionally significant for the country as a whole. Everybody in France and the rest of Europe would understand that France was a divine kingdom.  Louis made his claim that France was the most grand, ornate, and powerful country in Europe and the world. The size, scale, and ornate features of the gardens were so influential that they impacted garden design throughout Europe, such as in Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, and Austria.  This influence represents the significant impact France had across Europe in regard to garden design.

Here is a link for a website with cool and quirky facts about the Palace and Gardens of Versaille.

Louis XIV, the Sun King himself in all his glory.

The Palace and Gardens of Versaille in 1623 when it was a hunting lodge.

The Palace and Gardens of Versaille after its final design and construction. The palace and gardens combined are absolutely massive. It is 1.7 km long and 67,000 square meters total!

As Europe Began its Period of Colonization, Was There an Indigenous American and Caribbean Influence on European Garden Design?

Julián Huertas

11 March 2015

Professor Musgrave

Garden Art in European History

Blog Post Four:

In light of what we have so far studied, compose and answer your own question.

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As Europe began to colonize American and Caribbean territories at the end of the 15^th century, did the cultures within these different territories and their relationship to nature affect European garden design?

            Most of the material we have studied thus far has been Euro-centric. This makes sense as our class is about European garden history, but European colonization of American and Caribbean territories began at the end of the 15^th century.  The cultures of these territories have similar and different relationships to nature.  I am wondering if European colonization of these territories affected European garden design. This may be a topic we cover later in the course with more information, but I feel it is appropriate to ask and examine this question now.

            When analyzing Islamic garden design, we touched upon how Middle Eastern influences came over to Europe in the form of design and knowledge. The House of Baghdad (also known as the House of Wisdom) was the intellectual center of the Middle East, if not the world, until its destruction in the mid-thirteenth century. Scholars there made advances in the science, mathematics, and geography, and this knowledge was fundamental for European society and scholars.  The Spice Trade was also active during this time. Spain and Portugal were primary importers of different spices and products from Asian countries and territories. Thus, there is an important influence in Europe from outside regions – the Middle East and Asia – during this time.

            During this point in time in the Americas, indigenous tribes had both similar and different relationships to nature as compared to Europeans.  Many indigenous tribes in the Americas – current Canada, North America, Central America, and South America – had (and some still have) animism and shamanism as religions. In general, these religions view nature as directly related to the spiritual world.  Plants and animals have souls and consciousness and, thus, are holy. Indigenous tribes live and identify with nature. Although animism and shamanism were not major religions in Europe during this time, the idea of holiness within nature is not foreign to Europe. As we have seen, religion is of primary importance in European garden design. Blog Post Two examines how gardens played a role in Roman, Mediæval and Muslim religions.  Blog Post Three additionally examines how the Renaissance spirit and Humanist ways of thinking influenced the idea of a divine order in nature and gardens.

            This blog post does not attempt to answer if American and Caribbean territories and their relationships to nature affected European garden design.  Rather, it shows how the influence in Europe of outside territories was fundamental and analyzes the similar and different aspects of indigenous American and Caribbean relationships to nature as compared to Europe. This blog post does not attempt to answer the question because have not covered this aspect yet in class and also this may be a topic that has not been significantly enough researched to reach a definitive finding.  If not, do you think there are ways to carry out research that could answer this question? Or is this a topic that will remain merely speculative?

Here is a website/paper that discusses indigenous tribe animism in great depth.

The House of Baghdad (also known as the House of Wisdom). It was the intellectual center of the Middle East, if not the world.

This is a map of the Spice Trade and Silk Road. This trade between the East and West was vital in allowing for knowledge to spread and new products to be imported and exported.

A graphic that illustrates the religion of animism and the concept of nature being directly related to the spiritual world. Plants and animals have souls and consciousness and, thus, are holy.  Indigenous tribes live and identify with nature.