Davip Garrick: His GARDEN at Hamptonandthe ‘cuit ofSHAKESPEARE after appearing at an exhibition at the Royal taste of the progression of the monarchs who Academy, were ready to be introduced to the formed the succession of Privy Gardens at two northernplinths in the overgrownparterre Hampton Court. of the Privy Garden. They were made by As always there are many unanswered Robert Jackson in marble and were also known questions. What were, and what becameof, as Flora and Adonis. (figs. 2r & 22) In 1933, as the two marblefigures ofApollo and Adonis of we have heard, the bronze statues of Venus de Charles I’s Privy Garden? What was Nost’s Medici and Cleopatra were re-introduced into lost figure of Victory? Whatis the exact prove- the Privy Garden around 300 years after they nance of William III’s garden statues? We had madetheir first appearance here. In fact, could be edging towards some tenuousresolu- with two bronze figures and two marble fig- tion of that question. But were the marble ures, one ofwhom was Adonis, standing in the figures imported by Balle what William III four quarters of the garden, the statuary envisaged for his personal garden? Hehesitat- recalled what had been there in the mid seven- ed to give his approval; had he lived, wouldhe, teenth century. In 1946, the National Art like Queen Anne, have wanted them sent back Collections Fund purchased the figure of to their owner? Unless an amazing new piece Abundance by Derwent Woodfor display in of archival evidenceis found, that is something the Privy Garden andit wasplaced to the west weshall never know.. of the fountain. However, the three figures of Spring, Summer and Abundance are now fea- kK KK KOK tures of the Rose Garden at Hampton Court, and following the restoration in 1995, all the I would like to thank Juliet West at English Heritage elements of the Privy Garden now correspond for so generously sharing with me her ownresearch with those of William III’s garden of1702. into statuary at Hampton Court manyyears ago and One would imagine that statuary, com- fuelling my own enthusiasm for this subject. bining as it does the difficult attributes of being mostly angular and generally cumber- some, considerably weighty and at the same Davip Garrick: His GarDEN at HAMPTON time immenselyfragile, and then - to be prop- and the ‘cut of SHAKESPEARE’ erly seen - requiring to be lifted onto plinths, By Susannah Fleming would tend once in positionto stay put. But, as we have seen from the foregoing, this is not ‘What needs my Shakespearfor his necessarily the case. Statuary in the 1700 peri- honourd Bones, od was shipped from Whitehall by barge along The labour ofan age in piled Stones... vt the Thames to Hampton Court where a crane was in use at the wharf. The 1829 move to he beautiful ‘Shakespeare Temple’ Windsor in ordnance wagons with so little on the riverside at Hampton was mishap is either a miracle, or more likely, evi- built for David Garrick (1717-79) in dence that a great deal of thought, planning 1755. For those visitors who came to and care went into the removal, for which we pay homage at this monument, and evenfor now have only list of the statuary removed. those who merely passed by on the river, the a Even today, with modern equipment, moving message wasclear: this marked the spot where statuary is never an easy or straightforward the most celebrated actor/manager England procedure. In all events, the continual move- ever produced chose to commemorate the ‘god ment of statuary in the Privy Garden at of his idolatry’... William Shakespeare.’ As Hampton Courtis, I think, a recognition of might be expected, the arrangement of the importance given to such ornamentation Garrick’s garden, with its Temple of in the gardensetting, notonly in termsofclas- Shakespeare positioned near the bank of the sical iconography but in sequential fashionsin Thamesand the Villa in the background, sug- gardening, andalso of the value of statuary in gested a sort of permanent theatrical stage set. its own right as a reflection of the status and 1. John Milton’s sonnet, 1632, 2nd Shakespeare Folio. 2. David Piper, O Sweet Mr Shakespeare I'll have his Picture (London: 34. Carlo Milanois at present working on this subject. National Portrait Gallery, 1964), p. 30. 51 m THE LONDON GARDENER Or z £be Gardener's Intelligencer Volno.8 For the yeers 2002-2003 23. A View ofthe Seat 0vfthe Late David Garrick Esq. , with the Temple 9ofShakespeare a trom. Th 4¥:Lodern Universal Traveilex, 1779 4 A Courtesy THE TempLe Trust) 52 Davip Garrick: His GarDEN at Hamptonandthe ‘cuLT ofSHAKESPEARE’ This aspect may only have been apparent to least not as such. Ostensibly, the Villa at the casual observer whilst gliding gently by in Hamptonandits garden were intendedto pro- a boat, or sitting out on the bank opposite. It vide a peaceful retreat for the Garricks - well is certainly a characteristic discernible in sever- away from their hectic social life in town and al of the contemporary topographical engrav- the rigorous demands of the Londonstage. ings. (fig. 23) The stage-like quality of the Yet, when we look at the Zoffanys or some of scene would have been especially pronounced the other later topographical engravings, we during a summer's evening in 1774 when one of could easily imagine that a contemporary visi- the London journals reported that the tor to this garden must have felt a pervading Garricks had given a ‘splendid entertainment, sense of being on a stage, as if wandering into or Fete Champetre ... The companyincluded a an impromptu performancein a play already in great number of the Nobility and Gentry’, progress. Like any good stage set, the appro- whoenjoyed‘a concertand an elegant firework priate props were essential to setting the scene display. The gardens, the grotto-tunnel, and here. The focal point of the riverside lawn was, the Temple of Shakespeare were illuminated of course, the octagonal Temple with its mar- with 6000 lamps’.’ This must have had an ble statue of Shakespeare inside. The Ionic enchanting and highly theatrical effect. For orderofthe portico identified this as a Temple some of the same guests, it must also have of Wisdom.° More importantly, it proclaimed been ample compensation for the exceptional- Shakespeare to be in the ranks of the classical ly bad weather that had spoiled Garrick’s poets - an idea John Dryden hadinitiated a Shakespeare Jubilee at Statford-upon-Avon hundredyears beforeby referring to him as the five years before." ‘Homer of the British poets’.’ The Italian The atmosphere of the Hampton scene cypresses near the building would almost cer- was one ofinformality. This was immortalised tainly have conveyed the potent message of in two exquisite conversation pieces by Johann Shakespeare's immortality, and perhaps by Zoffany, painted in the summers of 1762 and extension also recall Shakespeare’s own words 1764. (figs. 24 &F 25) Each painting captures a in Twelfth Night: ‘Come away, come away, tranquil moment in the garden; one shows death; and in sad cypress let mebe laid’ (Act 2, David and Eva Maria Garrick relaxing by the Scene 4). Shakespeare Temple with the Roubiliac statue Similarly, the emblematic character of of Shakespeare visible through the open door, the weeping willows at the river’s edge and and in the other the couple are shown seated their association with the 137¢/ Psalm — ‘by the on the Temple lawn taking tea with family and streams of Babel’ etc. — would consciously friends. Two additional smaller paintings by intermingle with the memory of Desdemona’s Zoffany each show different parts of the gar- famous ‘Willow Song’ from Ofhello (Act 4, den and Villa. One of these depicts Garrick Scene 3). Perhaps an even more direct associa- writing while crouched under the shade of a tion was intended here by the careful juxtapo- large tree, whilst his gardener, Bowden,rolls sition of the cypresses with the willows — rec- the turf. In the other, Garrick’s two nieces are ognizably drawn from Dryden's assessment of at play in front of the grotto-tunnel. All four Shakespeare: ‘...he is always great when some intimate scenes once hung in the dining room great occasionis presented to him; no man can of their London house in the Adelphi.’ They say he ever had fit subject for his wit, and did a are perhaps most remarkable for having just not then raise himself as high abovetherest of exactly the right touch of the theatrical about the poets - guantum lenta solent inter viburna them. cupressi [as cypresses often do among bending Although we know that Garrick mused, osiers].”° wrote, rehearsed and entertained friendshere, The River Thames itself at Hampton, there is no evidence that he performedhere,at with its ever-present swans, would inevitably 3. Helen R Smith, The Story of Garrick and his life at Hampton evoke the famous reference to Shakespeare as (London: The Temple Trust, 1998), p- 5- ‘the Swan of Avon’. And for the initiates of a Christian Deelman, The Great ShakespeareJubilee 4. See, for example: (London: Michael Joseph, 1964). 6. Douglas Chambers, The Planters ofthe English Landscape Garden 5. See ‘Inventoryofarticles belongingto the estate of David Garrick (New Haven & London:Yale, 1993), p. 55- on Mrs Garrick's death’ from: The Papers ofthe Reverend Thomas 7. Piper, op. cit. p. 14. Rackett as Executor to Mrs Garrick, Hereford City Museum and Art 8. Deelman, of. cit. p. 30. Gallery. 53 THE LONDON GARDENER or The Gardener’s Intelligencer Volno.8 For the years 2002-2003 far more famous garden at Stowe, the Thames plays, or even of the so-called ‘cult of could easily conflate with the River Styx, The Shakespeare’.