From the 17th
to the 18th century, the English style gardens went from the formal
baroque garden to the flowing landscape gardens. Influenced by the British
agricultural revolution as well as the anti-French movement within in England,
which prompted the dismantling of the Baroque gardens, these new flowing
gardens gained great popularity. There was also a significant reform in
political, economic, philosophy, democracy and technology as well as a push into the new
neoclassical artistic movement. All of these factors combined lead to a new
sense of individualism and philosophy leading from structured gardens to free flowing gardens.
A example of a Ha-Ha
Charles Bridgeman began to design
English Landscapes. He was one of the first gardeners to design in the English
Landscape style and is most well known for his design of the most expansive
country estate, Stowe. He invented one of the most well-known and popular
English garden features, the Ha-Ha. The Ha-Ha became popular due to its
allowance to protect the garden from animals without the disturbance of the landscape.
Bridgeman is also accredited with being one of the first gardeners to
deformalize gardens and move away from the formality and rigidity of gardens of
the past. Although the transition from baroque can be seen in Stowe, through
the geometrically styled path and water features, they are minute formal
features in comparison to the informal expansive landscape, ponds and lakes.
However, these seemingly random features were carefully placed. He would arrange
feature to draw your eye to a central feature such as an amphitheater or garden
buildings. Unfortunately, there are few untouched Bridgemen’s gardens; many
were redesigned by William Kent.
Charles Bridgeman's design of Stowe
William
Kent took Charles Bridgeman’s ideas of a free flowing English garden one step
further. He introduced the English landscape garden and his designs combined art and nature as one. He tried to shape the land
so naturally that you wouldn’t even know it had been shaped. He removed most of
the formalized features in the Stowe garden but added statues, buildings and
ancient myths to showcase an allegorical story as you walk through the garden.
For example, one path in Stowe represents the path to virtue and is peppered
with features that allude to this virtue (worthiness, greatness, etc.) Although
a notorious drunk and highly unreliable, Kent made great contributions to the
British landscapes.
William Kent
“Capability” Brown was the head gardener
for Stowe and got his nickname from informing people that their land could be
improved upon, his goal was to garden all of England. He dismissed most of Kent’s
allegories and focused more on the natural aspect and beauty of gardens. Browns
gardens were free flowing with scatted trees, man made lakes and clumps. He was
known for having grandeur visions and would alter the landscape in order to
complete and fulfill his vision. His inspiration for all of his gardens was England;
he toyed with topography in order to accomplish an aesthetically pleasing look.
He believed that gardening was to improve upon nature and would use hard to
detect techniques like framing a castle in a large field, strategically placing
trees to draw your eye to the castle. These three designers used their own
ideas and techniques to influence landscape gardens at Stowe and contribute to
the evolution of landscape design. When visiting the garden, you must also visit the amazing library within the castle, although many of the famous manuscripts were sold when the 2nd Duke went bankrupts.
Stowe Garden
For more information on the Stowe Garden, where it is located and the visiting hours please see this website: http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/stowe_landscape_garden
Picture Resources: https://architessica.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/the-significance-of-the-ha-ha/
www.bu.edu
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/133630313917212505/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48028479@N00/7865890248/
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