Visions of Arcadia

Fülszöveg

Throughout history, gardens have evolved to meet man's ever/changing needs and aspirations. From the flowering of the Renaissance in the 15th century to the fantastical mixture of Gothick and chinoiserie in 18th/century Rococo, each era is marked by myriad attempts to create the ideal garden, the Arcadian dream.
This rich comparative study concentrates on design and architecture, not on cultivation, and traces the movement of ideas across frontiers. Added to this account of the great gardens of Europe are the personalities who made them - architects, designers, gardeners, princes and Popes - and the cultural and historical background that fostered their creation.
While each era sought to achieve unique and distinctive characterisation, one aim remained universal and condnuous: to create a setting for the ideal life.
The garden was a haven of peace for philosophy and music, a triumph of architecture, a masterpiece of man's control over nature, or a setting for the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Throughout history, gardens have evolved to meet man's ever/changing needs and aspirations. From the flowering of the Renaissance in the 15th century to the fantastical mixture of Gothick and chinoiserie in 18th/century Rococo, each era is marked by myriad attempts to create the ideal garden, the Arcadian dream.
This rich comparative study concentrates on design and architecture, not on cultivation, and traces the movement of ideas across frontiers. Added to this account of the great gardens of Europe are the personalities who made them - architects, designers, gardeners, princes and Popes - and the cultural and historical background that fostered their creation.
While each era sought to achieve unique and distinctive characterisation, one aim remained universal and condnuous: to create a setting for the ideal life.
The garden was a haven of peace for philosophy and music, a triumph of architecture, a masterpiece of man's control over nature, or a setting for the entertainment of a few friends or the endre Court. It was a place for intellectual and aesthetic pleasures. It was, in many ways, through different times, a realisation of the Arcadian vision.
The quest for novelty produced an astonishing array of embellishments, temples of classical purity, colossal statues, fountains, frothy cascades, shimmering pools, water jokes, grottoes, mounts, monograms made from the narrowest of twisting canals, birds that sang and statues that moved, powered by intricate hydraulic machinery
Visions of Arcadia exults in the inventions of the past and recalls gardens that live now only in old engravings, celebrates those that survive and those that have been recreated. It is a heartening tale, generously illustrated with images, well known or rarely viewed. For garden historians and garden lovers alike, it is a treasury of delights.
Above all, this book is a celebration of gardens that were made to be enjoyed. Vissza