Austen is famed for her sharp social satire, but she was also highly attuned to the shifting sensibilities surrounding landscape. From Pride and Prejudice’s wickedly funny take on the Picturesque to the lampooning of real-life landscaper Humphry Repton in Mansfield Park, there is no doubt that Austen had a deep love of the English landscape. She recognized that “to sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.”
Dr Laura Mayer has an MA in Garden History and a PhD in 18th Century patronage. Originally an art historian, she fell into Garden History after working at the Alhambra in Granada. She has published extensively – particularly on Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and on Jane Austen’s contemporary, Humphry Repton. Laura shares Elizabeth Bennett’s appreciation of Gilpin’s picturesque, as well as her talent for tramping about a garden inappropriately shod. She has worked as a consultant for the National Trust, English Heritage and Land and Heritage. She lectures regularly for the Gardens Trust and Cambridge Botanic Gardens.
This October 15 online talk is sponsored by the Oxfordshire Gardens Trust. £4 for members; £5 for non-members. Booking is through Eventcube. Visit www.ogt.org.uk for registration.
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.
The final episode of the series takes place November 18, on the Picturesque. The aesthetic category known as the Picturesque developed in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Defined by the artist and travel writer William Gilpin as ‘that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture’, it was equally applicable to art, architecture and even music. In the case of British landscape, the Picturesque aesthetes championed a Romantic appreciation for rugged and sublime topography. Gilpin’s guidebooks provided advice on how to paint picturesque scenery and promoted picturesque destinations such as the Lake District to a growing band of domestic tourists who had turned their back on the Grand Tour.
Through their writings, Sir Uvedale Price and Richard Payne Knight harnessed a growing disdain for the minimal landscapes of Brown and his contemporaries, instead encouraging Picturesque values of irregularity and wildness. This lecture grapples with the paradoxes inherent in a movement which championed unbridled naturalism through the artificial lens of taste, whilst recognizing the early role of the Picturesque writers in championing wilderness preservation.
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 Two on October 28 is Visiting Arcadia: Architecture and Antiquity. The Grand Tour transformed British culture in the eighteenth century; its effects visible in everything from art to antiquarianism, and fashion to food. A carefully prescribed route took in ancient ruins, sun-drenched landscapes and must-see objects d’art. Consequently, the Grand Tour became an educational rite of passage for the classically trained, encouraging the excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii, and providing a constant stream of commissions for artists like Batoni, Piranesi and Canaletto.
The Tour was also a socially sanctioned cover for all types of excess, from gambling and pillaging, to whoring and drinking. Yet despite these temptations, many young men returned from the Continent genuinely enlightened. Clubs were set up to encourage aspiring architects and garden designers to mingle with collectors and would-be patrons.
This lecture explores the dual nature of the Tour and reveals how a network of wealthy connoisseurs influenced the Arcadian landscape gardens of the Georgian gentry.
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 Three on November 4 covers Garden Buildings, Grottoes and Entertainment al Fresco. For all its aesthetic ideals and painterly compositions, the English landscape garden was ultimately intended for recreation. Follies, tea temples and other small-scale garden buildings encouraged architectural experimentation, whilst practically supplying shelter and shade for picnics and an exciting destination for drinking and dining.
Set apart from the country house, hermitages and classical pavilions provided privacy, seclusion and a sense of retreat within the landscape, encouraging study and quiet contemplation. At night, shadowy grottoes were illuminated by candlelight, and fireworks launched – often disastrously – from lodges or other purpose-built structures.
This lecture explores the role of architectural features within eighteenth-century garden design and considers how they were used and enjoyed in all weathers and throughout the seasons.
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.
The fourth lecture in this Gardens Trust series brings back Dr Laura Mayer on November 26. Chinoiserie – an early European interest in the arts, architecture and gardening of the Far East – blossomed in Georgian Britain, coinciding with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and modern consumerist society. Soon, every landscape park and public pleasure ground in the country had a Chinese pagoda, bridge, barge or brightly painted tea-house in which to drink tea, that most fashionable of imported luxuries.
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.
The third lecture takes place November 19 with Dr. Laura Mayer. The architect and designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, born in 1716, is credited with formulating the iconic English landscape garden. Even today, his rolling lawns, scattered with tree clumps and ornamented with glittering lakes, continue to define our perception of rural Britain. As a result, his hundreds of landscapes have eclipsed the study of eighteenth-century garden history almost entirely.
Both a visionary and a practical plantsman, the scale of Brown’s work is truly extraordinary. However, no designer works within a cultural vacuum, leading us to question just how many of his landscape schemes can be attributed solely to him. And when we look at the man behind the name, what, in fact, was Brown’s greatest ‘capability’? This lecture considers that it was not just his aesthetic insight – nor even his practical gardening talents – that set Brown apart from his peers, but arguably something entirely more mercenary.
Dr Laura Mayer is an independent lecturer, writer and researcher, with an MA in Garden History and a PhD in eighteenth-century patronage. Originally an art historian with a side of Spanish, she accidentally fell into garden history whilst working at the Alhambra in Granada. Laura has published extensively – particularly on Lancelot Brown and Humphry Repton – as well as on the historic gardens of Cambridgeshire. She lectures regularly for Cambridge University Botanic Gardens and works as a conservation consultant for the National Trust and Land & Heritage. Laura lives in Bristol, in a lilac-and-blue Georgian house with a tiny garden overlooking Repton’s Ashton Court estate.
