Italian Renaissance vs. Northern Renaissance

How are the Italian renaissance gardens similar and different from the northern renaissance gardens (specifically the low countries: Netherlands, Belgium)?

Italian renaissance gardens were dominated by architecture, sculpture, water, and message-laden landscapes. People believed these gardens were structurally all God’s work. Nature was very animate in the gardens. They were organized and imitated by man’s art. The gardens had an axial alignment that was arranged due to the size of the garden, either small or large. There were terraces in Italian renaissance gardens that could be viewed from outside of the garden. The planting was much more intricate than it is today with beds with low hedges, fountains, and trees. Beds were usually only planted with one type of plant that was used to show off. Water was also a huge part of Italian renaissance gardens. These gardens usually had many fountains or sources of water throughout. There were also several parts to the gardens. For example, Villa Lante in 1566 (picture below) had a hunting park, grove, and a paradise area to relax.

Villa Lante

Northern renaissance gardens were west of the alps. Unlike the Italian renaissance gardens being a relationship between God, Man, and nature, the low countries had renaissance gardens that were used to show what the people and country was going through at the time. The Netherlands was at war so their gardens had their own peculiar style. They had little time to work on their gardens until after the war when they used color with bulbs and tulips and lots of ornamentation. Much like Italian renaissance gardens, these gardens had a central water feature, and fountains. They also had terraces surrounding and beds at different levels. You can see in the photo below the brightly colored flowers and ornamentation.

Het Loo Palace (Netherlands)

Belgium’s renaissance gardens were very formal, political, and neoclassical. One garden in Belgium had an astronomical observatory in the garden to show planets at the time, and many had rose gardens and colorful flowers to show the flower advancements of the time. Like the Italian renaissance gardens, many gardens also have a water statue in the center and a gallery of water works. You can see the colorful flowers and formal structure of the Belgium gardens here.

The royal palace and Brussels park

The northern renaissance gardens (Netherlands and Belgium) seem to be more baroque style, while Italian renaissance gardens are more of a cascading, hillside garden in nature. Although, I haven’t yet studied baroque gardens, I did some research to find baroque gardens were used for show and the designers drew upon latest developments, much like in the Netherlands and Belgium renaissance style gardens. For more information on Baroque style gardens and to make comparisons to these gardens, I have added a link below.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Villa_Lante_Jardins.jpg -picture

http://dehrr.patrimonionacional.es/images/participante_sin_video_het_loo.jpg -picture

http://www.visitbelgium.com/uploads/images/Palais_R.JPG -picture

http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/garden_landscape_design_articles/historic_design_styles/high_baroque_garden_design_style -website