Italian Garden Maze attributed to Lodewijk Toeput, called Ludovico Pozzoserrato (1550-1605)

Attributed to Lodewijk Toeput, called Ludovico Pozzoserrato (1550-1605) Pleasure Garden with a Maze, c 1579-84. Lodewijk Toeput, called il Pozzoserrato (c 1550-1603-05) was a Flemish landscape painter and draftsman active in Italy. In Antwerp he is believed to have studied with Maerten de Vos, a leading history painter who had studied in Italy.  He is mainly known for his canvases and frescoes of landscapes and formal gardens with banquets and music-making groups.  Toeput painted various elegant gardens with figures engaging in courtly love or concerts. Many of his garden scenes were likely inspired by contemporary Flemish prints. For instance, his Pleasure garden with a maze (Hampton Court Palace) was likely inspired by the Garden with Labyrinth by Hans Vredeman de Vries and Party in a Garden, both engraved by Pieter van der Borcht the Elder. 

A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges. Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe. Early garden mazes began to appear in the 16C. These initial mazes were constructed from evergreen herbs, but, over time, box became a more popular option due to its robustness. Italian architects had been sketching conceptual garden labyrinths as early as 1460, and hundreds of mazes were constructed in Europe between the 16C-18C.  Initially, the hedge maze was not intended to confuse, but to provide a unicursal walking path. Puzzle-like hedge mazes featuring dead ends and tall hedges arrived in England during the reign of King William III of England. It was possible to get lost in the much-admired labyrinth of Versailles, built for Louis XIV of France in 1677 and destroyed in 1778. This maze was adorned with 39 hydraulic sculpture groups depicting Aesop's fables. The oldest surviving puzzle hedge maze, at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England, was built for King William in the late 17C. Its distinctive trapezoidal shape is due to pre-existing garden paths running alongside the maze.