Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch 1629-1684 paints City Gardens & Courtyards

Pieter de Hooch (Dutch artist, 1629-1684) A Musical Party in a Courtyard

Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Henbury the seat of Simon Harcourt Esq.

 Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Henbury the seat of Simon Harcourt Esq.

1697 The New Art of Gardening

Title-page to Leonard Meager, 'The New Art of Gardening' (London, R. Ware, 1720 first published 1683) a garden, with a fountain in the centre. c. 1697

Man-made Landscapes of Bavarian Towns, Gardens, & Grounds by Michael Wening (1645-1718)

 Michael Wening (Bavarian artist, 1645-1718) Closter S. Salvator

Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch 1629-1684 paints City Gardens & Courtyards

Pieter de Hooch (Dutch artist, 1629-1684) A Woman and her Maid

Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Seavenhampton, the Seat of Sir William Dodwell

 Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Seavenhampton, the Seat of Sir William Dodwell

1691 Garden with a few amazing angels puti flying above, supervising perhaps

1691 Frontispiece Gli Esperidi Romani Arnold van Westerhout after Giovanni Battista Manelli

Man-made Landscapes of Bavarian Towns, Gardens, & Grounds by Michael Wening (1645-1718)

  Michael Wening (Bavarian artist, 1645-1718) Castle Schonbrun

17C English Gardens by L Knyff (1652-1722) & J Kip (1653-1722)

Eaton Hall on the River Dee near the City of Chester in Cheshire the Seat of the Hon-ble Sr. Thomas Grosvenor Baron

Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Bradley, Seat of Thomas Dawes Esq.

 Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Bradley, Seat of Thomas Dawes Esq.

1686 English Houses & Gardens by Michael Burghers (1647-1727)

Michael Burghers (1647-1727) Okeover Hall, Staffordshire To the Worshipfull the ingenious & obliging Gent. ROWLAND OKEOVER of OKEOVER Esq. This 18. Tab. Shewing the Prospect of the ancient seat of OKEOVER as a testimony of gratitude is humbly presented by MBurgesse invent. et Sculp. Published for "The Natural History of Staffordshire" Robert Plot, 1686 (Plate 18)

Michael Burghers (1647-1727) The Front of Broughton House, Staffordshire To the Worshipfull the Learned and ingenious Gent. THOMAS BROUGHTON Esq. Son and Heir of the Right Wosp.ll S.r BRIAN BROUGHTON of BROUGHTON Bar - Shewing the beautiful Front of BROUGHTON House wite y.e sincerest gratitude is humbly presented MBurghers delin. et sculp. Published for "The Natural History of Staffordshire" Robert Plot, 1686 (Plate 21)

Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Little Compton, the Seat of Sir Richard Howe

 Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Little Compton, the Seat of Sir Richard Howe 

Man-made Landscapes of Bavarian Towns, Gardens, & Grounds by Michael Wening (1645-1718)

  Michael Wening (Bavarian artist, 1645-1718) Castle Lanquardt

Discovering a Garden in a Portrait Background - 1600s

April Minnend paar, Anonymous, Crispijn van de Passe (I), Maerten de Vos, (1574-1687)

Man-made Landscapes of Bavarian Towns, Gardens, & Grounds by Michael Wening (1645-1718)

  Michael Wening (Bavarian artist, 1645-1718) Castle Jelnkoffen

1690 Discovering a Garden in a Painting Background - Young Girl in a 17C Garden

 1690 Unknown artist, British, Small Girl & Dog in a Garden

17C English Gardens by L Knyff (1652-1722) & J Kip (1653-1722)

 Beaufort House

17C-18C Audrey End by Henry Winstanley (1644-1703) & by an unknown artist

Audley End House reportedly "after" Henry Winstanley (1644-1703), but this depiction seems more 1st-hand than Witstanley's. This was an overmantel from Bower Hall, Steeple Bumpstead, Essex, said to be painted about 1710. Purchased for the UK Government Art Collection & now inForeign & Commonwealth Office, Whitehall.

Audrey End Henry Winstanley (1644-1703)

The site had been chosen 6 centuries earlier by the Benedictine monks who founded Walden Abbey. Elements of the monastic landscape survive, including Audley End village & the monastic fish pond, Place Pond, the rectangular plan of which was softened in the 18C.

Henry Winstanley’s late 17C engravings of the ‘palace’ created by the 1st Earl of Suffolk show the house as the centerpiece of an extensive formal layout of courts & gardens, organized on an east-west axis.

To the west, beyond the inner court of lodgings (removed in stages throughout the 1st half of the 18C) was a vast entrance forecourt, divided by a canalized river Cam, with the London to Cambridge road beyond. The stable block marks its intended north side, although outside the forecourt as completed.

The domestic appearance of this stable block indicates its original use as a range of basic lodgings, but it was rapidly converted by the removal of the 1st floor & the creation of large doorways in its north side, opening on to a stable yard.

The formal landscape persisted in simplified form until the mid-18C. The Countess of Portsmouth began to soften it & moved the walled kitchen garden away from the house. Under Sir John Griffin Griffin, ‘Capability’ Brown began the landscape garden that survives today, & Robert Adam designed most of its buildings.

William Tomkins (1732-1792) Audley End from the South-West

William Tomkins (1732-1792) Audley End from the South-East c 1788

William Tomkins (1732-1792) Audley End View from the Tea House Bridge 1788

William Tomkins (1732-1792) Audley End the Tea House Bridge

A view of Audley End House from the West, by Edmund Garvey (c 1782), showing the Adam bridge separating the 2 lakes

The features visible in the gardens now are mainly the work of the Capability Brown & Robert Adam, commissioned in the late 18C by Sir John Griffin Griffin to refashion the estate. The site, on flat ground next to the river Cam, flanked by its steep valley slopes, provided Brown with an almost ideal landscape canvas.

The remaining forecourt walls were demolished to open up the extensive views over the lawn. The river Cam was reworked into a serpentine lake – one of Brown's design hallmarks – with naturalistic groupings of trees were planted to the south & west. The Cedar of Lebanon near the house dates to Brown's time.

Adam designed the new bridge over the river Cam, now called the Adam Bridge, on the road connecting Saffron Walden to the Newport–Cambridge road. His Temple of Victory, Lady Portsmouth’s Column & Tea House Bridge also survive.

Man-made Landscapes of Bavarian Towns, Gardens, & Grounds by Michael Wening (1645-1718)

  Michael Wening (Bavarian artist, 1645-1718) Castle Hauntzenbergsoll

Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch 1629-1684 paints City Gardens & Courtyards

Pieter de Hooch (Dutch artist, 1629-1684) A Woman at a Bleach Yard 

Man-made Landscapes of Bavarian Towns, Gardens, & Grounds by Michael Wening (1645-1718)

  Michael Wening (Bavarian artist, 1645-1718) Castle Münchsdorf

17C Garden Celebrations by Dirck Hals 1591-1656

1620 Dirck Hals  (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Music Making on the Garden Terrace

 1627 Dirck Hals  (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Fete Champetre

 1620 Dirck Hals (1591-1656) Music Making on the Garden Terrace

 Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Cheerful Company in the Park

 Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Company in the Garden

 Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Company on the Garden Terrace

 Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Merry Company Making Music on a Garden Terrace

 Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Music on the Garden Terrace

 Dirck Hals (Dutch Baroque Era painter, 1591-1656) Oysters on the Garden Terrace

Dirck Hals. (1591-1656) Music in a Garden

1691 Garden

1691 Frontispiece Gli Esperidi Romani Arnold van Westerhout after Giovanni Battista Manelli

Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Oxen Hoath, the Seat of Leonard Bartholomew

 Johannes Kip (1653-1722) Oxen Hoath, the Seat of Leonard Bartholomew

Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch 1629-1684 paints City Gardens & Courtyards

Pieter de Hooch (Dutch artist, 1629-1684) Dutch Family in a Courtyard

1687 Love & Music - Peter Rollos (fl 1619-1639)

Peter Rollos (fl 1619-1639), The center of love 1687

1685-1688 Garden in a Painting Background - 17C Couple

1685-88 Pieter Cornelisz van Slingeland (1640-1691) Jan van Musschenbroek and His Wife