Boston Flora

Tag: Humphry Repton

  • Tuesday, March 10, 2:00 pm Eastern – Repton at the Ecological Climax, Online

    Humphry Repton is generally regarded as the third of the great landscapers who led the English Landscape Movement. Indeed many books have been written about him – and a very good one by the London Gardens Trust. So how come he has the reputation of a second-rate failure?

    The huge contribution made by the farmland he designed to what we might call environmental ecology has been strangely overlooked by the scholarly consensus, but could still serve as a template for eco-friendly design and it makes a nonsense of the idea that old ‘historic’ landscapes are somehow at odds with the interests of bio-diversity. This March 10 London Parks and Gardens online talk will anatomize Darlands Park, Totteridge, and inspect the entrails for proof of his importance, but there will be lots of pictures of other places as well.

    John Phibbs is Principal of Debois Landscape Survey Group. He is also the author of Humphry Repton, Designing the Landscape Garden; Place-making: The Art of Capability Brown and Capability Brown: Designing the English Landscape

    This talk may be purchased as part of the entire winter series online package at https://londongardenstrust.org/lecture-details/?event=Season-Ticket-Winter

  • Tuesday, November 11, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – The Architectural Aspirations of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton, Online

    The 18th century landscape is viewed by many as being the pinnacle of English garden design. From its early Arcadian experiments and passion for all things classical, through to the vast and minimal landscapes of Capability Brown and his contemporaries, the gardening century was brought to a close with conflicting appeals for rugged wildness and domestic prettiness.

    In a new five part series sponsored by the Gardens Trust, Dr Laura Mayer will explore some of the themes and trends that emerged during the century, with a particular focus on the role of art, antiquity and architecture in shaping 18th landscape designs. The series is designed to pick up on themes and ideas not covered in any depth in last year’s introductory course on the History of Gardens – and so may appeal whether or not you joined us for the earlier series. The ticket for the entire series costs £35 for the 5 sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £8. [Gardens Trust members £26.25 or £6 each]. To register through Eventbrite, click HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link, please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

    Week Four on November 11 will focus on The Architectural Aspirations of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and Humphry Repton are famous for being the century’s most prolific landscape gardeners, and yet both men harboured strong architectural ambitions. Significantly, Brown even referred to himself as a ‘place-maker’, a term specifically chosen to encompass his abilities as both landscaper and architect.

    In 1771, Brown formed a resourceful partnership with Henry Holland, a successful builder and architect. In 1796, Repton entered into a formal partnership with the architect John Nash, having previously worked alongside William Wilkins and Samuel and James Wyatt. In 1773, Holland married Brown’s daughter Bridget, whilst Repton’s sons, George Stanley and John Adey, were pre-destined for a career in architecture and apprenticed from a young age to Nash.

    This lecture explores the lesser-known, architectural side of Brown and Repton’s careers. It considers how they involved themselves – both directly and indirectly through their sons and business partners – with the broader design of country estates. This included ambitious architectural design, the building of garden temples within the landscape and even interior decorative schemes, all intended to seamlessly integrate a house with its setting.

  • Tuesday, December 3, 4:00 am – 5:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Humphry Repton: From Picturesque Provocateur to Regency Ornamentalist, Online

    The Georgian era is often seen as the pinnacle of garden design in England, as the formal, baroque style of the late 17th century gave way to the looser, more naturalistic designs of what became known as the English Landscape Movement. It was a style that spread around the world.

    This Gardens Trust online series will trace the development of the landscape style, beginning with early examples full of decorative garden buildings and classical allusions, and then the impact of England’s most famous landscape designer, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, who laid out vast parklands with rolling lawns, serpentine lakes and clumps of trees. As we’ll see, the century ended with a clash between the wild, rugged aesthetic of the Picturesque and the start of a return to formality and ornamentation in garden-making.

    As well as examining individual gardens and designers, we will explore some of the myriad social and economic influences at work on Georgian design. These included political upheaval, changing land use, foreign trade and the lure of exoticism, alongside the impact of the European ‘Grand Tour’ undertaken by wealthy men, which instilled an admiration for classical art and poetry, and for French and Italian landscape painting.

    Humphry Repton (1752–1818) initially styled himself Capability Brown’s successor: the next great improver of landed property. This was a bold and ambitious stance, which opened him up to persecution from the new school of Picturesque aesthetes. These men championed a Romantic appreciation for rugged and sublime topography, and a disdain for the manicured lawns of Brown and his contemporaries which had come before.

    Ultimately forced to develop an entirely new aesthetic, Repton’s later designs were crowded with terraces, trellises, bowers, bowling greens and gravel walks. He called this new style ‘Ornamental Gardening’. Immortalized by Jane Austen in her novel Mansfield Park, Repton’s ingenious Red Books, with their ‘before and after’ overlays, helped nurture an appreciation for landscape amongst his Regency clients. This lecture traces Repton’s career from his early entanglement with the Picturesque writers, to the progressive ornamental style of the turn of a new century.

    Dr. Laura Mayer will lecture on December 3 for The Gardens Trust. Register HERE

  • Wednesday, May 15, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – People’s Parks: Cassiobury, The Ancient Seat of the Earls of Essex, Online

    The People’s Parks are one of the finest legacies of the Victorian age. Designed and bequeathed to the masses as part of a movement encouraging green spaces and recreation, the public park came to symbolize one of the greatest contributions of the era.

    Opened in increasing numbers in the industrious nineteenth century, by the end of the twentieth century many of our parks had become sadly neglected. But today they remain outdoor places for everyone to enjoy, acting as children’s play areas, sports grounds and even concert venues and have grown in popularity since the global pandemic. But what do we really know about them? The Gardens Trust is sponsoring a series of six weekly online lectures with Paul Rabbitts on Wednesdays from April 17 – May 22.

    Buy a ticket is for the entire course of 6 sessions. or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £8. [Gardens Trust members may purchase tickets at £31.50 for the series or £6 each talk]. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peoples-parks-tickets-852833737667

    On May 15, we discuss Cassiobury Park. One of the remnants of the great lost estates, Cassiobury Park is now the largest park in Hertfordshire, and the principal park of Watford, covering an area twice the size of Hyde Park. But this is no ordinary park. In 1661, Arthur, the 2nd Baron Capel, was made the Earl of Essex and, by 1668/69, he had moved to Cassiobury. By 1707, Cassiobury was a significant estate, and Charles Bridgeman was employed here in the 1720s. In 1800, the 5th Earl of Essex employed James Wyatt to rebuild the house along with Humphry Repton. The landscape was captured by Turner in many paintings.

    By the beginning of the twentieth century, large areas of the park had been sold off to the council for public parkland. By 1921, the lease was surrendered and, in 1927, Cassiobury House was demolished. Much of the remaining land was bought by the council becoming further parkland for the expanding town. This talk tells the significant story of a remarkable estate, family and park.

  • Tuesday, March 14, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Garden Technology: A Glittering Tale – A History of the Glasshouse in Britain, Online

    This is the fourth lecture in a six-week series of lectures which will look at the history and development of garden technology from Medieval times right up to the present day. The ‘technology’ of gardening has developed enormously over the past centuries due to mechanization, automation, advances in science – and we can now grow plants without soil, we have automated watering systems for our greenhouses and we can watch while the robot mower, controlled from our smartphones, trims our lawns to perfection. But although we may approach them differently, the tasks and challenges that face gardeners today are much the same as they were back in Tudor times and earlier: preparing the soil, planting, protecting, composting, propagating and so on and so on. The rise in the organic movement over the past few decades has reminded us that the gardeners of old knew at least as much about gardening and working in harmony with nature as we do now, so how have new technologies developed and progressed our gardening knowledge, practice, and techniques?

    The Gardens Trust has engaged a series of expert speakers to examine this question, including the renowned garden writer and designer, Noel Kingsbury, National Trust curator James Rothwell, expert on lawnmowers through the ages Keith Wootton, as well as regular Gardens Trust lecturers Jill Francis and our very own David Marsh; who will take a different technology in turn – tools, fertilizers, pest control, glasshouses, lawnmowers and plant breeding – and explore their history and development in relation to gardening. Tickets £24 or £5 each. Register through Eventbrite HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

    Since Roman times, people have longed to grow fruits and flowering plants from climates warmer than their own. It is from their resulting endeavors that the humble greenhouse of today emerged, bringing with it the ability to experience horticultural and culinary delights from across the globe. This talk on March 14 with James Rothwell will look at the history of the glasshouse in Britain, from the 17th-century orangery at Ham House to the 1920s greenhouse at Mr Straw’s House in Nottinghamshire. It will also look at the supporting acts that are garden sheds and at how innovations in glasshouse technology have informed building design today beyond the garden, including central heating systems, railway stations and even skyscrapers.

    James Rothwell studied architectural and landscape history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, specializing in the Red Books of Humphry Repton. He has been a curator with the National Trust for nearly thirty years. During that time, he has been responsible for a number of estates with important glasshouses, notably Quarry Bank in Cheshire where he oversaw the acquisition and restoration of the kitchen garden, including a range of glass with an early curvilinear iron showhouse.

  • Saturdays, December 4, January 8, and January 29, 10 am Eastern Time – Enchanted Ground, Humphry Repton, Online

    Join John Phibbs online on Saturdays, December 4, January 8, and January 29 at 10 am Eastern time for Zoom talks from Great Britain. The three talks will center on the work of the landscape gardener Humphry Repton (1752 – 1816), and are free. The talks are arranged in conjunction with Mr. Phibbs’ new book published by Rizzoli, Humphry Repton Designing the Landscape Garden, which, one hopes, will be put on your list of holiday purchases.

    The December 4 talk will be on The Work, not what he said he was going to do in his red books and publications, but what Repton actually did as a landscape gardener. On January 8, the topic is The Revolution – how Repton took the landscape tradition that he inherited from Capability Brown and turned it on its head. The final talk, on January 29, is entitled Why? This talk will begin with what Repton might have learned when he was in Ireland in 1783, and will consider the kind of man he was and will explore the social program that drove him, which contributed so much to the influence he had in the USA through the work of the great Frederick Law Olmsted, the founding father of American landscape architecture, whose bicentenary we are celebrating in 2022. For the links to the talks, email johnphibbs@hotmail.com and he will forward the links to you.

  • Tuesday, November 23, 2:00 pm (Live Online), and Wednesday, November 25 – Monday, November 29 (Recorded) – The Unlikely Genius of Humphry Repton

    Widely acknowledged as the last great British landscape designer of the 18th century, Humphry Repton created landscapes that survive as a bridge between Capability Brown’s mission to make England perfect, and Frederick Law Olmsted’s belief in landscape as a public good.

    Despite having little prior experience, Repton described himself as a ‘landscape gardener’ and sought to make landscapes appropriate to the status of each client and each estate where he worked. His first paid commission was Catton Park, north of Norwich, in 1788 five years after the death of Capability Brown. Though he was at first inspired by his great predecessor, he came to separate himself from Brown’s grand designs.

    Repton’s landscapes, for important clients such as the Dukes of Bedford and Portland, featured subtle adjustments and fine-tuning to the natural features of the countryside in the Brownian tradition, as well as deliberate interventions that tested the desire of his contemporaries for wilder and more picturesque scenery. He also became known for presenting his designs in ‘Red Books’ (so called for their binding) that contained explanatory text and watercolors elaborated with overlays to show ‘before’ and ‘after’ views.

    Renowned garden historian John Phibbs will explore some of Repton’s most celebrated landscapes—from the early maturity of his gardens at Courteenhall and Mulgrave Castle, to his more adventurous landscapes at Stanage, Brightling, and Endsleigh. John will illustrate some of his red books and discuss the impact that Repton’s work has had, not only in Britain but throughout the English-speaking world.

    John Phibbs is a renowned garden historian with more than 30 years’ experience in the management and restoration of historic landscapes. He has worked on a broad range of parks and gardens—over 400 sites. He is an acknowledge authority on Georgian landscapes. He has served on the National Trust’s Gardens Panel and now serves on the Design Review Panel of the Georgian Group, which has a role concerned with the conservation of Georgian buildings and landscapes. He is the author of Capability Brown: Designing the English Landscape (2016) and Place-making, the Art of Capability Brown (2017). His recent book, on which this lecture is based, Humphry Repton: Designing the Landscape Garden was published by Rizzoli, September 2021.

    This Royal Oak Foundation online presentation will take place live on Tuesday, November 23 at 2 pm Eastern on Zoom, or you may rent the lecture to view at your leisure between Wednesday, November 24 – Monday, November 29. $15 Royal Oak members, $30 nonmembers. Register at https://www.royal-oak.org/events/fall-2021/repton/

  • Monday, April 26, 1:00 pm – 12:30 pm – Other Voices in Garden History: Learning from the Blackamoor, Online

    This series of Gardens Trust illustrated lectures will explore the impact and legacy of empire, colonialism and enslavement on western garden and landscape history. Our aim is to bring back some of the voices usually absent from this history, to identify and fill gaps in our collective knowledge, and to explore new ways of engaging with the whole history of gardens, landscapes and horticulture.

    The diverse range of topics and speakers will offer a new range of perspectives on the history of gardens and landscapes and suggest more inclusive ways of presenting and interpreting their stories. The series does not aim to point fingers or to encourage hand-wringing but is more a celebration of voices starting to be heard.

    This talk on April 26 at 2 pm Eastern is the third in our series aiming to hear voices previously absent from our garden history:

    When William III commissioned a pair of kneeling slaves for the privy garden at Hampton Court palace, he initiated a new genre of British garden sculpture. As the product of a culture that valued the profitability of the Atlantic slave economy, The Blackamoor, a.k.a. The Kneeling Slave, became the most popular of all the lead statues made for British gardens in the 18th century. Unlike the visualising Blackamoor, the source of income remained invisible in landscape gardens – as exemplified by Harewood in Yorkshire, where both ‘Capability’ Brown and Humphry Repton were consulted.

    This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions via the link, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 10 sessions at a cost of £40 (students £15) via the link here.

    Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    Dr Patrick Eyres is editor of the unique, artist-illustrated New Arcadian Journal, which engages with the cultural politics of designed landscapes (53 editions since 1981: www.newarcadianpress.co.uk). He has also published in numerous other books and journals, most recently in Penny Florence (ed.), Thinking The Sculpture Garden (2020). For many years he served on the boards of the Little Sparta Trust, Garden History Society, Leeds Art Fund, and Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust. On behalf of The Gardens Trust, he set up and chaired for the first ten years the annual New Research Symposium in Garden History.

  • Monday, April 19, 1:00 pm – 12:30 pm – Historic Landscapes for All: Learning to Share, Online

    The second in a 10-part lecture of the Gardens Trust series, celebrating the voices beginning to be heard, online once a week on Mondays, may be heard April 19 at 1 pm Eastern.

    From 2018-20 the Gardens Trust ran a Lottery-funded project called Sharing Repton: Historic Landscapes for All. This helped us learn how to engage new and diverse people with historic parks and gardens but was only a small part of a much longer journey. This ticket which may be purchased through Eventbrite is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 10 sessions at a cost of £40 (students £15) via the link here.

    Linden Groves is the Gardens Trust’s Strategic Development Officer. Linden has worked for the Gardens Trust since its inception in 2015, and before that for both the Garden History Society and the Association of Gardens Trusts. She is passionate about helping everyone enjoy historic parks and gardens to the full and moving garden history out of its niche and into the mainstream.

  • Through May 20 – Moving Earth: “Capability” Brown, Humphry Repton, and the Creation of the English Landscape

    Time for a road trip to New Haven, to the Sterling Memorial Library, 120 High Street, at Yale University.  Drawing on the collections of the Center for British Art, Moving Earth shows how landscape gardeners relocated vast quantities of soil, water, and plant life to reshape English scenery. The exhibit runs now through May 20.

    As one of England’s greatest aesthetic achievements, the English landscape garden has become a well-known and defining characteristic of the country. With large sweeping expanses of lush green fields, groupings of trees, winding paths, and serpentine-shaped rivers and lakes, the English landscape appears as an ideal form of nature; it is, however, an expertly crafted construct. Countless hours of moving and reconstructing vast volumes of earth, water, trees and shrubbery demonstrate what can be achieved when combined with careful planning, design and an eye towards nature. Moving Earth explores the creation of the English Landscape through the advent of landscape gardening and the pioneering work of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton.

    This exhibition opens with examples of early English formal gardens comprised of geometrical patterns, topiaries, and planted parterres and examines the return to nature as seen through literary criticisms and notions from Addison and Pope. The focus of Moving Earth is on the prolific landscape gardener, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, and his successor Humphry Repton. To fully consider the development of landscape in Georgian England the exhibition highlights architects, such as William Kent and Sir John Vanbrugh, as well the ‘Picturesque’ controversy and criticisms from Richard Payne Knight, Uvedale Price, and William Gilpin, that surrounded this emerging field.

    Presented prominently throughout this exhibition are materials from the Yale Center for British Art, including the Reference Library and Archives, and reproductions from the Rare Books and Manuscripts, Prints and Drawings, and Paintings Collections. Moving Earth showcases the extent and range of materials available for research, and the depth and scope to which these concepts, ideas, and topics can be fully examined. This exhibition features an abundance of both primary and secondary resources available at the Center that provides the foundational basis for research into British art, culture and society.  Image of Repton’s Dyrham Park from www.gardenvisit.com.