Charles Bridgeman was a landscapist during the early 1700’s whose work got overlaid. He broke the bounds of formality and started the whole landscape scene. He united the garden and landscape. His style was a mix of English landscape design and baroque. It was 1. very traditional with parterres, avenues, and geometric lakes. 2. Transitional with garden buildings, lawns, and amphitheaters. 3. Progressive using rides and key vantage points. Bridgeman introduced the design of the garden no longer being walled in. His single greatest contribution to English landscape gardens was the Ha-Ha. This is a sunken hedge at the edge of the garden that looks out to the borrowed landscape. It is apart of the visual landscape. One example of Bridgeman’s work is the Kensington Palace. You can see the transitional style with the wiggly lines, and how it is starting to become softer and more gentle than the baroque gardens.
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| Kensington Palace Garden Design |
William Kent was a painter in the early-mid 1700’s who REALLY broke the bounds of formality. He focused on art and nature combined. He made gardens that looked like paintings. They were very informal. Stowe is an example of this because it is very picturesque. His inspirations were from natural settings. Kent wanted to generate an emotional response in his art. He used classically inspired landscapes of buildings and themes in his paintings, so they were a real live representation. An example of his work is Rousham in Oxford. In this garden he created something in the landscape (like the statues and wall below) just to draw attention and be more artistic. Today it is a real hidden gem.
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| Stowe Garden |
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| Rousham Garden |
‘Capability’ Brown was an architect and a gardener. His name comes from having “great capabilities” when designing. He worked with Kent and created Stowe. His style was elegant, comfortable and subtle. He used trees, grass, topography and water. He believed landscape should be large scale and he is known for not only having a garden but having a parkland, woods, and a farm within distance of the garden. He often used rivers or lakes that extended through his garden and used Ha-Ha’s to trick the eye into thinking the borrowed landscape was part of the parkland. Beyond the trees he usually had a focal point, a random temple or bridge to give a natural scene. This is shown in Blenheim Palace, one of his most extraordinary pieces of work.
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| Bleinham Palace Garden |
For more information on Bridgeman, Kent, or Brown I have provided interesting links at the bottom of the page where I got some of my information. It is worthwhile to learn more about these designers.
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