Early 18C Bavarian Gardens & Grounds

Michael Wening (1645-1718) was a Bavarian engraver known for his many depictions of cityscapes & views of stately homes, castles & monasteries in the Bavaria of his day. His concept was to publish a visual account of Bavaria’s 4 districts called Historico-Topographica Descriptio. He began in 1696, & had finished more than 100 drawings within the first 2 months.  The 1st volume appeared in 1701, but work on the other 3 volumes was delayed by Austria’s occupation of Bavaria.  At least 1 volume was published after his death in 1718. 

Early 18C English Gardens - Bradley, Seat of Thomas Dawes Esq.

Bradley, Seat of Thomas Dawes Esq. Johannes Kip (1653-1722) The Ancient & Present State of Gloucestershire, pub by Sir Robert Atkyns 1712.

Early 18C Bavarian View with Gardens

1700 M. Diesel, Bavarian engraver. Prospect of a magnificent pleasure garden and building whose under part of a gallery, the upper part but as desired can be used.

Early 18C Bavarian Gardens & Grounds

1700 M. Diesel, Bavarian engraver. Prospect and Perspective of Gräffl. Fuggerischen pleasure garden to Mauthausen including the pleasure house as same from the side of the garden.

Early 18C English Gardens - Henbury the seat of Simon Harcourt Esq.

Henbury the seat of Simon Harcourt Esq. Johannes Kip (1653-1722) The Ancient & Present State of Gloucestershire, pub by Sir Robert Atkyns 1712.

Mid-18C English Gardens & Grounds by Anthony Highmore 1718-1799

1700s Anthony Highmore (1718-1799) An Oblique Perspective View of the East Front of Hampton Court

Anthony Highmore 1718-1799 was the only son of Joseph Highmore, & is best known for views of Hampton Court, engraved by John Tinney. He was deaf & resided mostly at Canterbury, where he studied theology. He & his wife had 15 children.

1700s Anthony Highmore (1718-1799) An Oblique Perspective View of the East Front of Hampton Court

 1700s Anthony Highmore (1718-1799) St. James's Park and Banqueting House

1700s Anthony Highmore (1718-1799) The South Front of Hampton Court, with Part of the Garden

Early 18C Bavarian Gardens & Grounds

1701 Bavarian Views with Gardens Liechtenberg Castle Michael Wening (Bavarian artist, 1645-1718)

Michael Wening (1645-1718) was a Bavarian engraver known for his many depictions of cityscapes & views of stately homes, castles & monasteries in the Bavaria of his day.  His concept was to publish a visual account of Bavaria’s 4 districts called Historico-Topographica Descriptio. He began in 1696, & had finished more than 100 drawings within the first 2 months.  The 1st volume appeared in 1701, but work on the other 3 volumes was delayed by Austria’s occupation of Bavaria.  At least 1 volume was published after his death in 1718. 

1749 The Amphitheatre at Claremont

1749 Unknown Artist The Amphitheatre at Claremont

1730s English Gardens & Grounds by Thomas Badeslade

 1730s Thomas Badeslade (Artist, Active 1712-1754) Deane, the Seat of Sir Henry Oxenden

 1730s Thomas Badeslade (Artist, fl 1712-1754) John Harris I (Engraver, Active 1686-1740) The Grange & Laybourn Castle the Seats (Also posted under John Harris)

 1730s Thomas Badeslade (Artist, fl 1712-1754) Preston Hall, Aylsford, the Seat of Sir Thomas Colpeper Bt

 1735 Thomas Badeslade (Artist, fl 1712-1754) The North-East Prospect of Chirk Castle in Denbighshire

1735 Thomas Badeslade (Artist, fl 1712-1754) The West Prospect of Chirk Castle in Denbighshire 

Rococo Borders & English Gardens & Grounds by Thomas Robins 1716-1770

1748 Thomas Robins. 1716–1770. Panoramic View of Charlton Park, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Thomas Robins the Elder (1716-1770) was born near Cheltenham & worked mostly around Bath.  Sometimes called the Limner of Bath, he is remembered for his sometime naive paintings of country houses & gardens framed with rococo borders of wild flowers, tendrils, leaves, birds, shells & butterflies. His works depict various gardens & seem to provide the only visual record of a brief Rococo period in English garden design. Apart from his paintings, there is almost no evidence that British Rococo gardens ever existed.

Thomas Robins (1716-1770) The Grounds of Honington Hall Showing the South & West Fronts Thomas Robins the Elder

1757 Thomas Robins (1716-1770) Prospect of Pan’s Lodge, Panswyke [Painswick House], Gloucestershire

 Thomas Robins. 1716–1770

Thomas Robins. 1716–1770 View of Bath; from the E, looking over the Avon from Bathwick Meadows, with Bowling Green to left, Grand Parade, Pierpoint St and Duke St, St James's church tower, to right the Orange Grove and E end of Abbey

 1750s Thomas Robins. 1716–1770 

 Thomas Robins. 1716–1770 

  Thomas Robins. 1716–1770 Gloucester from Hempsted

1750s Thomas Robins. 1716–1770

  Thomas Robins. 1716–1770

Thomas Robins. 1716–1770 The grounds at Honington hall, Warwickshire,, showing the ornemental water designed by Sanderson Miller

Thomas Robins (1716-1770) Chinese Kiosk or Pavilion, old Windsor, Berkshire

Bibliography

John Harris, Gardens of Delight: The Art of Thomas Robins, 1978, 2 years earlier there had been an exhibition of his work at the RIBA & at the Holburne Menstrie Museum in Bath.

See also Introduction to his Life & Work by Cathryn Spence & Daniel Brown, Bath, 2006

Early 18C Gardens & Grounds by John Harris I (fl 1686-1740)

 John Harris I (fl 1686-1740) James Lightbody (fl 1695-1705) South-West Prospect of his Grace ye Duke of Marlborough's House in St. James's Park Britannia Illustrata 1716

 John Harris I (fl 1686-1740) James Lightbody (fl 1695-1705) South-West Prospect of his Grace ye Duke of Marlborough's House in St. James's Park Britannia Illustrata 1716

John Harris I (fl 1686-1740) Thomas Badeslade (fl 1712-1754) The Grange and Laybourn Castle the Seats of William Saxby Esq. (Also posted under Thomas Badeslade.)

1758 Gardens & Grounds at Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire

1758 Reverend Richard Byron (British artist, 1724-1811) East View of Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, and the Great Garden

1720s English Gardens & Grounds

1720-30 Thomas Bardwell (British artist, 1704-1767) View of Perry Hall, near Birmingham

1710 English Gardens & Grounds

1710 After Henry Winstanley (English artist, 1644-1703) Audley End House - Overmantel from Bower Hall (demolished 1926)

1712 English Gardens - Berkley Castle the seat of the Earle of Berkley

Berkley Castle the seat of the Earle of Berkley Johannes Kip (1653-1722) The Ancient & Present State of Gloucestershire, pub by Sir Robert Atkyns 1712.

Berkeley Castle is in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire. The castle has remained within the Berkeley family, since they reconstructed it in the 12C, except for a period of royal ownership by the Tudors. It is traditionally believed to be the scene of the murder of King Edward II in 1327.  The first castle at Berkeley was a motte-and-bailey, built around 1067 by William FitzOsbern shortly after the Conquest. This was subsequently held by 3 generations of the Berkeley family.  In 1153–54, Fitzharding received a royal charter from King Henry II giving him permission to rebuild the castle.  Fitzharding built the circular shell keep during 1153–56, probably on the site of the former motte. The building of the curtain wall followed, probably during 1160–90.  Much of the rest of the castle is 14C.  Gardens in this depiction are primarily utilitarian providing vegetables & fruits to the owners.

1710 Greater London Garden

Studio of Marco Ricci (Venetian artist, 1676-1730) Cascade, Gardens Bushy Park, a Baroque-style garden of pools, cascades, basins & a canal, that together originally extended almost 1km across the northern part of Bushy Park. The Water Gardens boast a number of grottoes, 4 grand pools, & a cascade.

In 1729, the garden designer, Stephen Switzer, wrote: "Without doubt, one of the best works of that kind in England, and perhaps as good as any else where."  

These gardens were built for Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, who lived at Upper Lodge and was keeper of Bushy Park from 1709-1715. He was a career politician who created the joint stock company that was to become the Bank of England. He was a friend of Sir Isaac Newton and part of a circle of writers that included John Dryden and William Congreve.   

Halifax diverted the Longford River into the upper pond, which fed the cascade and the other water features. The Longford River is an artificial waterway, created for King Charles l in 1638-9 to bring water from The River Colne at Longford to Hampton Court. 

Samuel Molyneux, noted in 1714, about the Cascade,  "Not very high but little and yet beautifully dispos'd so as to fall between two fine pieces of Grotto Work where are places left for Paintings representing two Caves in which the little walks round the Basin of the Cascade and the Paintings are removable so as to be taken away in Winter." 

Stephen Switzer wrote about the Water Gardens in 1729, "This very handsome rural Design is supply'd by a Branch of the River Colne; which, though not affording a perpetual Current, yet is never wanting to give Spectators a peculiar Pleasure. The design is so well known, that I need not expatiate or enlarge upon it; but is, however, of so rude an' rustick a Manner that it may well serve as a Patten or Model to any that shall be disposed to make use of Water Works." 

1750 Views FROM the Garden Terrace at Somerset House

Canaletto (Italian artist, 1697-1768) The Thames from the Terrace of Somerset House Looking toward Westminister c.1750-51

Canaletto (Italian artist, 1697-1768)  The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards the City c.1750-51

Attributed to Thomas Priest (1740-1770) A View of the Thames looking upstream from the Terrace of Somerset House c.1750s

The original Somerset House was built by Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (1506-1552), the Lord Protector of the boy king Edward VI. In order to have the ideal place to build his new home, it is reported that he had the Inns, as they were called, of the Bishops of Coventry, Lichfield, Chester, Worcester & Llandaff, as well as the old parish church of St Mary’s, raised to the ground "without any recompense," so as to create a flat space to build his new palace. The architect chosed for its design was John of Padua who was responsible for Longleat & who, under Henry VIII, held the post of "Devizer of His Majesty’s Buildings." 

Upon the Duke's untimely death, Somerset’s palace reverted to the Crown & was used as a royal palace by Elizabeth I, James I’s wife Anne of Denmark & the neglected wife of Charles II, Catherine of Braganza. Later it came to be a residence of dowager queens or temporary residences of foreign princes or ambassadors. All these different occupants made alterations both in & outside the main building. 

By 1706, there were extensive terraced gardens facing the Thames with stairs at each end. The gardens were laid out in the square with avenues of trees & gravel paths. Alexander Pope wrote of them: “Grove nods to grove, each alley has its brother, & half the garden just reflects the other.” Along the river there was a raised terrace & a heavy low wall.

A few yards upstream from Somerset House was York Water Gate & Water Tower. The former, built in 1626, was all that remained after the demolition of York House by its owner, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham a few years after the Restoration. The Gate originally led down to the river but since the building of the Embankment in the 1860s, 150 yards from the river. The Water Tower was close by the Gate & constructed between 1690 & 1695 from wood & its purpose was supplying the Strand & its neighborhood with water from the Thames. It was an octagonal structure, about 70' high & was illuminated within by small loopholes in its sides. It was still standing in the 1780s. The York Buildings Waterworks Company building with its chimneys was adjacent, Samuel Pepys’s house was just behind it & the Salt Office was in close by. Further upstream, on the north side of the river was the Banqueting House, Westminster House, Westminster Hall, the two towers of the Church of St John the Evangelist & then Westminster Bridge which had been completed on 25th October 1746.

1700 English Garden

1700 Unknown artist, View of the East Front of Erchfont (Urchfont) Manor in Wiltshire, with Elegant Figures in the Garden and Swans in the Foreground

1712 English Gardens - Coberly the seat of Jonathan Castelman Esq.

Coberly the seat of Jonathan Castelman Esq. Johannes Kip (1653-1722) The Ancient & Present State of Gloucestershire, pub by Sir Robert Atkyns 1712.

Bird's eye view of Coberley Court, Gloucestershire; includes church, stables, &  other buildings within walls of the grounds. The river Churn runs behind.  Alleys lead to the seat.  The geometrically arranged gardens are primarily used to raise vegetables & fruits. There are 4 parterres for recreational walking, recreation, relaxation, & sport. The walls are espaliered around the recreational area. The parish of Coberley contained 2 manors at the time of the Domesday survey.  One manor which lay in Rapsgate hundred, & is mentioned as belonging to Berchelai, continued in the Berkeleys, (a family distinct from the barons of the castle), till by marriage, in the reign of Hen. IV. it passed to Sir John Brtigg, the ancestor of the Chandos family, from whom it passed, at the beginning of the 17C, to the Duttons, of Sherbourne, &  was given in dower by John Dutton, Esq. with Lucy his daughter, to Sir Thomas Pope, Earl of Down. The Castleman family were afterwards proprietors by purchase, &  in 1720, Jonathan Castleman, Esq. sold it to the father of John Howe, first Baron Chedworth. See The History of the County of Gloucester Volume 1. 1803