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Frontispiece for Thomas Whately’s Observations... Frontispiece for Joseph Heely’s Letters... 26 Nordisk Arkitekturforskning 2003: 4 Re-Writing Landscape Description as theory in the eighteenth century landscape garden Katja Grillner he art of landscape gardening evolved during the inherited “architectural” orders and hierarchies of gar- eighteenth century into a paradigmatic art-form den art.1 T in its bringing together of all other arts – from poetry and painting to architecture – and in its capa- Landscape garden theory in Eighteenth Century England city to impress the mind with a multiplicity of sen- I shall no longer resist the passion growing in me for sations and the most sublime and beautiful ideas. things of a natural kind, where neither art nor the con- Formally new principles of design were developed as ceit or caprice of man has spoiled their genuine order.2 attention shifted away from the representation of na- Shaftesbury, The Moralists, 1705 ture in idealised forms to its pure presentation – the “natural” as such, entered the garden scene through The idea of a “natural style” in gardening surfaced in the aesthetics of the landscape garden. Along with the the early years of the eighteenth century with philo- landscape garden, a new spatial and formal language sophers and writers such as Shaftesbury inThe Mo- was introduced, an alternative to the architectural prin- ralists of 1705, Addison referring to “making a pretty ciples that had up until then dominated the layout of land-skip of the gentleman’s grounds” in the imagina- gardens. This development radically challenged traditio- tion papers of 1712, and Alexander Pope advising Lord nal modes of representation in gardening theory and Burlington “to consult the genius of the place in all” in practice. Focusing on the uses of verbal representations his Epistle to Lord Burlington of 1731. When Shaftes- in two theoretical garden treatises of the eighteenth bury in 1705 revealed his passion for “things of a na- century, Thomas Whately’s Observations on Modern tural kind” he could not, however, as many writers on Gardening (1770) and Joseph Heely’s Letters on the gardens have assumed, have had a proper landscape beauties of Hagley, Envil and the Leasowes (1777), this garden in mind.3 The English ”natural style” of garde- paper aims at investigating this particular challenge to ning did not receive its mature expression until the Katja Grillner: Re-Writing Landscape realisation of gardens such as Rousham, Stourhead and Gardening was not published until 1770, but the text Stowe. The earliest examples, such as demonstrated was spread as early as 1765.7 In spite of George Mason’s in the treatises of Stephen Switzer and Batty Langley, claim to notice for his earlier publication date, Whately owe much of their formal ideas to French classical mo- gives the most complete and systematic account of dels. The “natural” element consists in their designs of the design principles of the landscape garden at this winding paths that remain enclosed within an overall time. He does not support his theory on an historical formal composition.4 narrative (as did Mason and later Horace Walpole in The term “landscape gardening” was not introduced The History of the Modern Taste in Gardening) or a cul- until more than half a century later by the poet William tural precedent (as Chambers did with his accounts of Shenstone in his Unconnected Thoughts on Garde- oriental gardening).8 Whately presents the principles ning, published posthumously in 1764.5 While the of modern gardening as if released from historical and landscape gardening practice was philosophically dri- cultural context, and ground them in descriptions of ven since its early days and surrounded by an aesthetic existing gardens and natural scenery. The rules are de- discourse emanating from John Locke, with Addison rived from studying how desirable effects have been at- and Burke as key-references, more systematic theo- tained, either by nature, or by a garden designer’s aid. retical garden treatises did not appear until the 1760s The key-sources for this paper, Thomas Whately’s and 70s. Since the 1750s the lack of an updated treatise Observations on Modern gardening (1770) and Joseph on gardening was discussed. Isaac Ware’s A Complete Heely’s Letters on the beauties of Hagley, Envil and Body of Architecture (1756) and Henry Home’s (Lord the Leasowes (1777) have very different positions in Kames) Elements of Criticism (1762) both contained this narrative of the development of a theoretical dis- chapters on the principles of gardening, but observed course concerning the landscape garden. While Wha- the want of a general treatise on modern gardening. tely holds the undisputed position as the author of William Chambers described in 1757 the “art of lay- the most complete and systematic treatise, the culmi- ing out gardens among the Chinese” in his Designs of nation, or peak, of the movement, Heely’s letters are Chinese buildings, which under the cover of presen- published too late to play more than a marginal role ting the gardening methods of a distant culture, intro- in this narrative. His Letters are however of particular duced his own ideals. William Shenstone’s Uncon- interest to us, developed as it was out of a descripti- nected thoughts on gardening present, in the form of ve genre into a forceful didactic mode of writing the advisory notes, for the first time important key-princi- landscape garden. Description may be thought of, as ples of the art: the principal objective of pleasing the we shall see, as a crucial tool for the training of a com- imagination, the importance and distinction between petent garden designer. prospects and home-views, the carefully measured relationship between art and nature, as well as rules How to become a landscape gardener for conducting the winding paths. It was widely read [T]he business of a gardener is to select and to apply and the principles Shenstone confirms are on a gene- whatever that is great, elegant, or characteristic in any ral level those built upon by subsequent writers of the of them; to discover and to shew all the advantages of 1770s. the place upon which he is employed; to supply its de- The first who claimed to have written a more comp- fects, to correct its faults, and to improve its beauties.9 rehensive work in garden theory was George Mason, Thomas Whately Observations on Modern Gardening, a Member of Parliament and a land-owner in Hert- 1770 fordshire, where he had landscaped his own estate, Porters. In 1768 he published his Essay on Design in [M]y friend, if this art is really to be learnt, nature only Gardening, which seems to have passed quite un- is the proper school for it – it depends not on the rules noticed.6 Thomas Whately’s Observations on Modern that comprehend science of any other kind; /…/ its rules depend on other powers — on good sense, on an inven- 28 Nordisk Arkitekturforskning 2003: 4 tive genius, a flowery imagination, and a delicate fancy offers such remarkable experiences as those so vividly — it is these only that can produce perfection— that described by Heely.13 can teach you to slide from one beauty to another, to Landscape gardens were primarily designed in clo- characterise, combine, and give every scene a pleasing se relation to existing sites. Even if dramatic alterations effect, from whatever point it is viewed.10 were to be pursued, the aim was that these changes Joseph Heely Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil, should only enhance the ‘natural’ beauty and charac- and the Leasowes, 1777 ter of the existing situation. It demanded a designer How does one learn to become a landscape gardener? to act without the support of the specific formal and Many different objectives and interests converge in proportional rules provided for example in architectu- the publication of essays and treatises such as George ral theory. Whately and Heely, as quoted above, both Mason’s, William Chamber’s, Thomas Whately’s and underline the importance of a trained judgement that Joseph Heely’s. The need experienced in the 1750s may, in Whately’s words, “select”, “discover”, “shew”, for a more complete theoretical base for the practice “correct” and “improve”, and in Heely’s “slide”, “charac- of landscape gardening, and these writers’ attempt to terise”, “combine” and “produce perfection”. This judge- answer to that need, is one among many aspects to ment is always applied to what happen to stand before take into account in critical studies of these sources. the designer, the site. The garden designer thus had to But it is a very challenging one. Was there really a need learn to read and then re-write the landscape using his for theory? And of what use could that be for the de- developed aesthetic sensitivity and judgement. On ex- signer? isting grounds, through subtle changes, a new, fictional, The role of the designer was taken on in different situa- reality should come into place. How was the necessary tions by landowners, painters, poets, scholars, gentle- aesthetic judgement demanded for this operation to men, (gentle)ladies, architects or professional garde- be trained? If this was the key element for the art of ners. When arguing for the status of gardening among landscape gardening how was it to be conveyed th- the liberal arts the absence of a professional designer- rough and expressed in a theoretical discourse? figure ought to have been a difficulty. The other arts – In Whately and Heely’s respective works a literary painting, poetry, architecture – all had a professional fi- descriptive method to train the garden designer’s gure behind them – the painter, the poet, the architect.

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