17C Euro Gardens - Enghien - Maze or Labyrinth

Romeyn de Hooghe (Dutch artist, 1645-1708) The Maze or Labyrinth at the Renaissance gardens at Enghien near Hainault. By this period, a labyrinth usually had a single through-route with twists & turns but without branches, while a maze was designed as a confusing pathway with many branches, choices of path & dead-ends. A labyrinth was not designed to be difficult to navigate with only one path. A maze was a tour puzzle & could be designed with various levels of difficulty & complexity. A traditional labyrinth usually had only one entrance which was also the exit. There was just one path from the entrance to the center. A maze may have been planned with a variety of entry & exit points. Some labyrinths have a spiritual significance, signifying life's complex, unexpected, & long path to reach God.

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, & 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 & 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 & 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.  Mazes & topiary are an expression of man's ultimate control over nature.  The maze allows the owner to "help" his visitors who might get lost in the surrounding green, living puzzle, which the owner built, of course.  Status & the impression of wisdom, culture, & intelligence were important for the owners of these gardens.  

17C The Forme of the Garden from William Lawson's A New Orchard And Garden

William Lawson A New Orchard And Garden or, The best way for planting, grafting, and to make any ground good, for a rich Orchard Particularly in the North and generall 1618

Forme of the Garden

The goodnesse of the soile, and site, are necessary to the wel being of an orchard simply, but the forme is so farre necessary, as the owner shall thinke meete, for that kind of forme wherewith euery particular man is delighted, we leaue it to himselfe, Suum cuique pulchrum. The vsuall forme is a square. The forme that men like in generall is a square, for although roundnesse be forma perfectissima, yet that principle is good where necessity by art doth not force some other forme. If within one large square the Gardner shall make one round Labyrinth or Maze with some kind of Berries, it will grace your forme, so there be sufficient roomth left for walkes, so will foure or more round knots do. For it is to be noted, that the eye must be pleased with the forme. I haue seene squares rising by degrees with stayes from your house-ward, according to this forme which I haue, Crassa quod aiunt Minerua, with an vnsteady hand, rough hewen, for in forming the country gardens, the better sort may vse better formes, and more costly worke...

A. Al these squares must bee set with trees, the Gardens and other ornaments must stand in spaces betwixt the trees, & in the borders & fences.

B. Trees 20. yards asunder.

C. Garden Knots.

D. Kitchen garden.

E. Bridge.

F. Conduit.

G. Staires.

H. Walkes set with great wood thicke.

I. Walkes set with great wood round about your Orchard.

K. The out fence.

Music in the Garden 1500s

Circle of Joris Hoefnagel (Antwerp 1542-1601 Vienna) Elegantly dressed figures merrymaking in a garden

Children & European Gardens out Windows 16C-18C

1599 attr Gortzius Geldorp (Dutch painter, 1553–1618) Portrait of a Girl aged 4

 1599 attr Gortzius Geldorp (Dutch painter, 1553–1618)  Portrait of a Girl aged 4, dated 1599

 1606 Unknown artist, Lettice Newdigate age 2

 1606 Unknown artist, Lettice Newdigate age 2

 1625 Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (Dutch or Flemish artist, 1593-1661) Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote and Family

1625 Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (Dutch or Flemish artist, 1593-1661) Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote and Family

 1640 1640 Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (British artist, 1593-1661) Portrait of (Baron) Arthur Capel and his family

 1640 Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (Dutch or Flemish artist, 1593-1661) Portrait of (Baron) Arthur Capel and his family

 1650 Unknown artist Boy with Coral

 1650 Unknown artist Boy with Coral

Hendrick Berckman (Dutch artist, 1629-1679)  Portrait of a Boy and his Dog

Hendrick Berckman (Dutch artist, 1629-1679) Portrait of a Boy and his Dog

16C Garden - Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1604) Beugelen in a Floral Labyrinth

Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1604) Beugelen, Floral Labyrinth from Hortorum Viridariorumque Formae, published at Antwerp in 1583

Preparing flax for linen 1515

1515 Da Costa Hours, in Latin Illuminated by Simon Bening (1484–1561) Belgium, Bruges, Preparing flax for linen

16C Farm Chores

Francesco Bassano the Younger (1563-1570) Farm Chores in April

A 1500s Garden of the Italian elite

 Bonifacio Veronese called Bonifacio de' Pitati (Italian, 1487–1553) An Architectural Capriccio in an Ornamental Garden

17C Love & Harvesting

Juni Hooien, After Crispijn van de Passe (I), Maerten de Vos, c. 1574 - c. 1687

Grain agriculture in ancient Rome provided bread for everyman's table & was idealized among the social elite as a way of life. Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations. In his treatise On Duties, he declared that "of all the occupations by which gain is secured, none is better than agriculture, none more profitable, none more delightful, none more becoming to a free man." When one of his clients was derided in court for preferring a rural lifestyle, Cicero defended country life as "the teacher of economy, of industry, & of justice." Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men & the sturdiest soldiers come."  Cato, Columella, Varro & Palladius wrote handbooks on farming.

Staple crops included wheat, emmer, spelt, & barley, all of them used for bread, the mainstay of every Roman table. In his treatise De agricultura ("On Farming", 2nd century BC), Cato wrote that the best farms contained a vineyard, followed by an irrigated garden, willow plantation, olive orchard, meadow, grain land, forest trees, vineyard trained on trees, & lastly acorn woodlands. "The people living in the city of Rome constituted a huge market for the purchase of food produced on Italian farms.  Cato claimed that a small farm should have "a foreman, a foreman's wife, ten laborers, one ox driver, one donkey driver, one man in charge of the willow grove, one swineherd, in all sixteen persons; two oxen, two donkeys for wagon work, one donkey for the mill work." 

Land ownership was a dominant factor in distinguishing the aristocracy from the common person, & the more land a Roman owned, the more important he would be in the city. Soldiers were often rewarded with land from the commander they served. Though farms depended on slave labor, free men & citizens were hired at farms to oversee the slaves & ensure that the farms ran smoothly.  The Romans had four systems of farm management: direct work by owner & his family; tenant farming or sharecropping in which the owner & a tenant divide up a farm's produce; forced labor by slaves owned by aristocrats & supervised by slave managers; & other arrangements in which a farm was leased to a tenant.

There was much commerce between the provinces of the empire, & all regions of the empire were largely economically interdependent. Some provinces specialized in the production of grains including wheat, emmer, spelt, barley, & millet; others in wine & others in olive oil, depending on the soil type. Columella writes in his Res Rustica, "Soil that is heavy, chalky, & wet is not unsuited to the growing for winter wheat & spelt. Barley tolerates no place except one that is loose & dry."  Pliny the Elder wrote extensively about agriculture in his Naturalis Historia including chapter XVIII on The Natural History of Grain 

In the Roman Empire, some calculated that a family of 6 people would need to cultivate 12 iugera/ 3 hectares of land to meet minimum food requirements (without animals). Romans could acquire land for a farm in one of three ways. The most common way to gain land was to purchase the land. Though some lower class citizens did own small pieces of land, they often found it too difficult & expensive to maintain, & would sell it to someone in the aristocracy who had the financial backing to support a farm. Though there were some public lands available to the common person for use, aristocrats also tended to purchase those pieces of land, which caused a great deal of tension between the two classes. Some theorize that “Mass eviction of the poor by the rich underlay the political tensions & civil wars of the last century of the Roman Republic.” Another way to acquire land was as a reward for going to war. High ranking soldiers returning from war would often be given small pieces of public land or land in provinces as a way of paying them for their services. The last way to obtain land was through inheritance. A father could leave his land to his family, usually to his son, in the event of his death.

Cato explained that though some small farms were owned by lower class citizens & soldiers, much of the land was controlled by the noble class of Rome. Land ownership was just one of many distinctions that set the aristocracy apart from the lower classes. Aristocracy would "reorganize small holdings into larger more profitable farms in order to compete with other nobles." It was considered a point of pride to own not just the largest piece of land, but also to have land that grew high quality produce. As Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men & the sturdiest soldiers come." Careful planning went into every detail of owning & maintaining a farm in Roman culture.

Pruning 1580

1580 Pruning Italian School The Labours of the Months

Harvesting - Illuminated Manuscripts

Simon Bening - Da Costa Hours - c.1515

Grain agriculture in ancient Rome provided bread for everyman's table & was idealized among the social elite as a way of life. Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations. In his treatise On Duties, he declared that "of all the occupations by which gain is secured, none is better than agriculture, none more profitable, none more delightful, none more becoming to a free man." When one of his clients was derided in court for preferring a rural lifestyle, Cicero defended country life as "the teacher of economy, of industry, & of justice." Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men & the sturdiest soldiers come."  Cato, Columella, Varro & Palladius wrote handbooks on farming.

Staple crops included wheat, emmer, spelt, & barley, all of them used for bread, the mainstay of every Roman table. In his treatise De agricultura ("On Farming", 2nd century BC), Cato wrote that the best farms contained a vineyard, followed by an irrigated garden, willow plantation, olive orchard, meadow, grain land, forest trees, vineyard trained on trees, & lastly acorn woodlands. "The people living in the city of Rome constituted a huge market for the purchase of food produced on Italian farms.  Cato claimed that a small farm should have "a foreman, a foreman's wife, ten laborers, one ox driver, one donkey driver, one man in charge of the willow grove, one swineherd, in all sixteen persons; two oxen, two donkeys for wagon work, one donkey for the mill work." 

Land ownership was a dominant factor in distinguishing the aristocracy from the common person, & the more land a Roman owned, the more important he would be in the city. Soldiers were often rewarded with land from the commander they served. Though farms depended on slave labor, free men & citizens were hired at farms to oversee the slaves & ensure that the farms ran smoothly.  The Romans had four systems of farm management: direct work by owner & his family; tenant farming or sharecropping in which the owner & a tenant divide up a farm's produce; forced labor by slaves owned by aristocrats & supervised by slave managers; & other arrangements in which a farm was leased to a tenant.

There was much commerce between the provinces of the empire, & all regions of the empire were largely economically interdependent. Some provinces specialized in the production of grains including wheat, emmer, spelt, barley, & millet; others in wine & others in olive oil, depending on the soil type. Columella writes in his Res Rustica, "Soil that is heavy, chalky, & wet is not unsuited to the growing for winter wheat & spelt. Barley tolerates no place except one that is loose & dry."  Pliny the Elder wrote extensively about agriculture in his Naturalis Historia including chapter XVIII on The Natural History of Grain 

In the Roman Empire, some calculated that a family of 6 people would need to cultivate 12 iugera/ 3 hectares of land to meet minimum food requirements (without animals). Romans could acquire land for a farm in one of three ways. The most common way to gain land was to purchase the land. Though some lower class citizens did own small pieces of land, they often found it too difficult & expensive to maintain, & would sell it to someone in the aristocracy who had the financial backing to support a farm. Though there were some public lands available to the common person for use, aristocrats also tended to purchase those pieces of land, which caused a great deal of tension between the two classes. Some theorize that “Mass eviction of the poor by the rich underlay the political tensions & civil wars of the last century of the Roman Republic.” Another way to acquire land was as a reward for going to war. High ranking soldiers returning from war would often be given small pieces of public land or land in provinces as a way of paying them for their services. The last way to obtain land was through inheritance. A father could leave his land to his family, usually to his son, in the event of his death.


Cato explained that though some small farms were owned by lower class citizens & soldiers, much of the land was controlled by the noble class of Rome. Land ownership was just one of many distinctions that set the aristocracy apart from the lower classes. Aristocracy would "reorganize small holdings into larger more profitable farms in order to compete with other nobles." It was considered a point of pride to own not just the largest piece of land, but also to have land that grew high quality produce. As Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men & the sturdiest soldiers come." Careful planning went into every detail of owning & maintaining a farm in Roman culture.

Kermesse - Outdoor Celebrations for the entire community

 1590 Gillis Mostaert (1528–1598) Village Kermesse

Kermesse, a festival or fair, is a Dutch language term derived from 'kerk' (church) & 'mis' (mass) originally denoting the mass said on the anniversary of the foundation of a church (or a parish). Such celebrations were regularly held in the Low Countries & also in northern France, & were accompanied by feasting, dancing & sports of all kinds. Now called "Kermes” in Germany, & “la quermes” in Spain, by any name it has come to mean a small community carnival featuring games of chance & skill, music, refreshments, entertainment, laughter, & fun.

Unknown Artist of the Flemish School The Kermesse Of Saint George

Circle of Marten van Cleve  (c. 1527-b. 1581)  A Village Kermesse

Circle of Marten van Cleve  (c. 1527-b. 1581)  A Village Kermesse

 David Teniers the Elder (1582-1649) Village Kermess

 David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690) A Country Kermesse

 Jan Steen (Dutch artist, 1626-1679)  A Village Revel 1673

Lucas van Valkenborch or van Valckenborch (Flemish painter, c 1530-1597)  A Village Kermesse

Petrus Paulus Rubens (1577-1640) La Kermesse ou Noce de village

 Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569) Village Dance

Pieter Brueghel Younger (1564-1638)  The Kermesse of St George

Lucas van Valkenborch or van Valckenborch (Flemish painter, c 1530-1597) Rural Festival in the Landscape

Circle of Joris Hoefnagel or Georg Hoefnagel (1542-1601).  A village festival with elegantly dressed figures in procession

Harvesting, Dancing, & Courting in the Fields

Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743) L'Eté - Summer

Grain agriculture in ancient Rome provided bread for everyman's table & was idealized among the social elite as a way of life. Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations. In his treatise On Duties, he declared that "of all the occupations by which gain is secured, none is better than agriculture, none more profitable, none more delightful, none more becoming to a free man." When one of his clients was derided in court for preferring a rural lifestyle, Cicero defended country life as "the teacher of economy, of industry, & of justice." Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men & the sturdiest soldiers come."  Cato, Columella, Varro & Palladius wrote handbooks on farming.

Staple crops included wheat, emmer, spelt, & barley, all of them used for bread, the mainstay of every Roman table. In his treatise De agricultura ("On Farming", 2nd century BC), Cato wrote that the best farms contained a vineyard, followed by an irrigated garden, willow plantation, olive orchard, meadow, grain land, forest trees, vineyard trained on trees, & lastly acorn woodlands. "The people living in the city of Rome constituted a huge market for the purchase of food produced on Italian farms.  Cato claimed that a small farm should have "a foreman, a foreman's wife, ten laborers, one ox driver, one donkey driver, one man in charge of the willow grove, one swineherd, in all sixteen persons; two oxen, two donkeys for wagon work, one donkey for the mill work." 

Land ownership was a dominant factor in distinguishing the aristocracy from the common person, & the more land a Roman owned, the more important he would be in the city. Soldiers were often rewarded with land from the commander they served. Though farms depended on slave labor, free men & citizens were hired at farms to oversee the slaves & ensure that the farms ran smoothly.  The Romans had four systems of farm management: direct work by owner & his family; tenant farming or sharecropping in which the owner & a tenant divide up a farm's produce; forced labor by slaves owned by aristocrats & supervised by slave managers; & other arrangements in which a farm was leased to a tenant.

There was much commerce between the provinces of the empire, & all regions of the empire were largely economically interdependent. Some provinces specialized in the production of grains including wheat, emmer, spelt, barley, & millet; others in wine & others in olive oil, depending on the soil type. Columella writes in his Res Rustica, "Soil that is heavy, chalky, & wet is not unsuited to the growing for winter wheat & spelt. Barley tolerates no place except one that is loose & dry."  Pliny the Elder wrote extensively about agriculture in his Naturalis Historia including chapter XVIII on The Natural History of Grain 

In the Roman Empire, some calculated that a family of 6 people would need to cultivate 12 iugera/ 3 hectares of land to meet minimum food requirements (without animals). Romans could acquire land for a farm in one of three ways. The most common way to gain land was to purchase the land. Though some lower class citizens did own small pieces of land, they often found it too difficult & expensive to maintain, & would sell it to someone in the aristocracy who had the financial backing to support a farm. Though there were some public lands available to the common person for use, aristocrats also tended to purchase those pieces of land, which caused a great deal of tension between the two classes. Some theorize that “Mass eviction of the poor by the rich underlay the political tensions & civil wars of the last century of the Roman Republic.” Another way to acquire land was as a reward for going to war. High ranking soldiers returning from war would often be given small pieces of public land or land in provinces as a way of paying them for their services. The last way to obtain land was through inheritance. A father could leave his land to his family, usually to his son, in the event of his death.


Cato explained that though some small farms were owned by lower class citizens & soldiers, much of the land was controlled by the noble class of Rome. Land ownership was just one of many distinctions that set the aristocracy apart from the lower classes. Aristocracy would "reorganize small holdings into larger more profitable farms in order to compete with other nobles." It was considered a point of pride to own not just the largest piece of land, but also to have land that grew high quality produce. As Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men & the sturdiest soldiers come." Careful planning went into every detail of owning & maintaining a farm in Roman culture.

Gardens, Gardeners Working, & Owners Resting from 1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth

1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinthshowing a twice enclosed garden design - the inner with a balustrade and the outer with a wooden fence

 1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth, showing gardener maintaining raised garden beds

1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth, 1594 showing sowing, seeding and weeding 

1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth, 1594 showing flowers being grown in raised beds

1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth, showing a covered arbour to be enjoyed in bright sunshine

1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth, showing a water pump at the left

1594 Thomas Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth showing gentlemen in a fenced garden enjoying wine & fruit (title-page)

1604-05 Urban Garden Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1604)

View of an urban garden with horizon line Engraving from Hans Vredeman de Vries Perspective Leiden H. Hondius, 1604-1605