Early 18C English Gardens - Staunton Harold in the County of Leicester. England

Staunton Harold in the County of Leicester. EnglandLeonard Knyff (1652-1722) and Johannes Kip (1653-1722) 1709 Britannia Illustrata 1724 ed pub by Joseph Smith 

Parks & Gardens UK tells us that Staunton appears in the Domesday book as one of 210 "lordships" granted to Henry de Ferraris by William of Normandy, after the Conquest.  It was then ‘enfeoffed' (leased) to a feudal Saxon underling, Harold de Lecha.  It became known as Staunton Harold to distinguish it from other Stauntons (stony towns) throughout the country.

There was a deer park at Staunton by 1324 & later, two - the Little Park & the Great Park.  The Little Park is believed to have occupied the present parkland & therefore is of particular importance at Staunton Harold as a continuous feature of the landscape from that date.

In 1423, Ralph Shirley, one of Henry V's leading commanders at Agincourt, married Margaret, Heiress of John de Staunton.  The Staunton estate was then in the ownership of the Shirley family until 1954.

There is no documentary evidence to suggest any designed landscape at Staunton Harold before the mid to late 17C, although there would have been gardens, orchards & farms to support the community associated with the house.  In 1611, George Shirley was created 1st Baronet Ferrers by James I.  In 1623, the Great Park was turned into farms.

In 1653, Sir Robert Shirley, the 4th Baronet, built a church next to the Hall.  It is a significant building as it is the only church built in England during the period of the Commonwealth. Shirley's son, who was created Baron Ferrers in 1677, & Earl Ferrers in 1711, set about "aggrandising the hotch potch of Jacobean and earlier buildings which he had inherited." He added a new north-east front to the Hall & laid out extensive formal gardens around it. The location of the Church would have dictated the position of these gardens, which might otherwise have been positioned to the south of the house.

A contemporary described Shirley as "a great improver of gardening & parking." Country Life in 1913 states that "it is probable that George London who had laid out the neighbouring gardens at Melbourne may have advised him.  London certainly knew the garden & writes in 1701 to Thomas Coke of Melbourne of two visitors setting out to see gardens & plantations proposing to see "My Lord Chesterfield's, Lord Ferrers' & the Duke of Devonshire's."

The Hall & Gardens were illustrated by Leonard Knyff (around 1702) & engraved by Kip (1706).  A 1995 report describes them from the engraving: "The main garden, terraces ranged either side of a broad axial path & with a canal across the bottom, lay north-east of the Hall.  A summerhouse at the east end of the main cross axis adjoined the west end of a predecessor of the present causeway bridge, to the south of which, past the chapel, extended the rectangular Church Pool.  West of the southern part of the Pool was a roughly square block of woodland, possibly a wilderness.  Further pools lay along the valley bottom north of the Hall gardens." 

Nichols quotes a Mr Wooley's description of the garden in 1712, from his MS History of Derbyshire as follows:  "It has a handsome new front towards the gardens... the gardens are well-watered with fountains & canals, very good aviaries, a decoy, & stations for a great many exotic fowls.  The park & woods about it are large & reach within half a mile of Caulk (sic) & a mile of Melbourne but being seated in a clay soil, it is somewhat dirty coming to it....the east end of the church abuts on a very large canal, the biggest in all the county."  According to Nichols, the gardens lie on the north west side of the house, but, in fact, they lie to the north-east "consisting of several parterres in easy descents from the house, which add a gracefulness to the one & the other."

The height of one of the fountains was enhanced by the water being thrown from & then spilled down over a prominent stone column, not unlike the giulio in the Octagon Lake at Stowe.  This can be seen on the Kip engraving.  According to Nichols, MacKay in his tour through England early in the reign of George I, calls Staunton Harold "a noble seat... & the gardens adorned with statues"  For the first half of the 18C, there were few changes.

1732 French Garden Scene

1732 Nicolas Lancret (French artist, 1690-1743) A Family in a Garden taking Coffee with some Children

Early 18C English Gardens - Bradley

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

1786 English Garden with garden-bench, greenhouse, urn, espaliered wall, & flower pots.

1786 Unknown artist. John Coakley Lettsom (1733–1810), with His Family, in the Garden of Grove Hill, Camberwell.

This 1786 painting of the Lettsom family offers much to explore in 18C garden developments in England & how those translated across the Atlantic to early American gardens.  The painting is notable for its close-up images of a garden bench, greenhouse, urn, espaliered wall, & flower pots.

John Coakley Lettsom (1733–1810) was a Quaker & a well known figure of the English Enlightenment, the movement in the 18C towards freedom of thought & equality of rights for all mankind. Born in the Virgin Islands, he sailed to Britain & was apprenticed as a surgeon-apothecary in Yorkshire.  After returning to the West Indies to free the slaves he had inherited, he came back to Britain, became a physician, & acquired immense wealth through his medical practice catering toward many rich & noble patients. He used his wealth in numerous philanthropic projects, such as the Aldersgate Street Dispensary, which gave free medical care & soup kitchens, & the Royal Humane Society, which was concerned with saving people from drowning. He also promoted charity through essays on slum housing, alcohol abuse, & the problems of the blind. As an apothecary, he was also a keen gardener, & the painting shows him in the garden of his house in Camberwell, with his wife & 5 of his children. 

18C Garden - 1736 The sad story of Hornby Hall and Castle

1736 Arthur Devis (Inglese artist, 1712-1787) Hornby Hall and Castle

In the garden can be seen a young couple, Bennison Thomas & amp; Ann Dowbiggin, being presented with a bouquet by the estate gardener on the occasion of moving into Their new house. Bennison was a Protestant & amp; His wife Ann was a Catholic. Shortly after the picture was painted Bennison died, & amp; His vast fortune passed to His 11 year old daughter Ann, who Had Been brought up as a Catholic. In 1752, Ann married John Fenwick of nearby Burrow Hall. Discovering That he was in financial straits mean, she legally passed over to him her fortune & amp; the deeds of Hornby Hall. In a cruel twist of fate he died shortly afterwards, according to Functional & amp ;, the law of Hanoverian England, the summer was successfully Claimed by Thomas Fenwick, His Protestant brother. Only many years later did Ann Fenwick succeed in retrieving part of her fortune, in recognition of Which she erected St Mary's Chapel, Hornby. Interestingly, Only When the painting was recently restored were the figures of Ann's parents & amp; Summer gardener revealed, having Been Out painted 250 years ago by Thomas Fenwick who could not have Wished to be Reminded of His ill-gotten gains.

Arthur Devis is principally known as a painter of the "conversation piece," or informal portrait in domestic surroundings. This picture, However, was painted very early in his artistic career in the years immediately Following His apprenticeship to the landscape painter Peter Tillemans (1684-1734), & amp; shows Hornby Hall shortly after it was built in 1735.

1720-30 Welch Gardens

1720 Unknown artist, Newton House, Llandeilo, from the North Dinefwr Park and Castle

1730 Unknown artist, Newton House, Llandeilo, from the East Dinefwr Park and Castle

Portrait Painting in the mid-18C French Garden

The artist here is Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle, 1717-1806. French artist who also designed several gardens, including the jardin anglochinois Parc Monceau, Paris (1773–8), with its many diversions including "ruins," a "Dutch windmill," a "Tartar tent," and similar fabrications. One of its most unusual features was the Bois des Tombeaux (Wood of Tombs) containing forms of tombs (pyramids, etc.). Thomas Blaikie, the Scots landscape-gardener, was brought in (c.1781) to simplify Carmontelle's somewhat overladen scheme, but the work was an important catalyst in the adoption of the garden, embellished with monuments, into the 19C cemetery.

Mr et Mme Du Perreux-Millin,c.1760

Mme la Comtesse de La Woestine, c. 1785

Sharing the Harvest - At the Market with Leiden painter Willem van Mieris 1662-1747

Willem van Mieris (Leiden painter, 1662-1747) The Greengrocer 1731

Willem van Mieris (Leiden painter, 1662-1747) Grocer's Shop in Alcove c 1732

Willem van Mieris (Leiden painter, 1662-1747) Blick in einen Laden

Willem van Mieris (Leiden painter, 1662-1747) The Venison Seller

Sharing the Harvest - 18C Foods at Market & at Home

Adriaan de Lelie (Dutch artist, 1755-1820)

Jan Antoon Garemijn (Dutch painter, 1712-1799) The Market in Bruges 1778

Johann Zoffany (German-born English painter, 1733-1810) Florentine Fruit Stand

John Atkinson (British artist, fl 1770-1775) British  Girl Bundling Asparagus 1771

John Atkinson (British artist, fl 1770-1775) Kitchen Scene

John S C Schaak (British artist, fl. Westminster 1761-1769) Tavern Interior 1762

Justus Juncker (Dutch artist, 1703-1767) In the Kitchen

Justus Juncker (Dutch artist, 1703-1767) The Maid in the Kitchen

Justus Juncker (Dutch artist, 1703-1767) Working in the Kitchen

Pehr Hilleström (Swedish artist, 1732-1816) A Lady at the Hearth

Molly Milton, the pretty oyster Woman Carington Bowles 1788

Unknown artist, Curds and Whey Seller c 1725-35

Sausage Woman at Covent Garden Robert Sayer 1772

Abraham van Strij (Dutch artist, 1753-1826) Cleaning up in the Kitchen

Sharing the Harvest - 1790s Female Food & Flower Vendors on the Streets of London by Francis Wheatley 1747-1801

Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Two Bunches a Penny, Primroses, Two Bunches a Penny

 Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Strawberrys, Scarlet Strawberrys

 Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Sweet China Oranges, Sweet China

Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 New Mackerel

Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Round and Sound, Five Pence a Pound, Duke Cherries

Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Turnips and Carrots

Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Hot Spiced Gingerbread, Smoking Hot

Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Fresh Gathered Peas, Young Hastings

 Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Cries of London 1792-1795 Milk Below

Francis Wheatley (English artist, 1747-1801) Market Scene

1766 Dutch Garden

Johannes Janson (Dutch artist, 1729-1784) A Formal Garden, Dutch, 1766

18C French Garden Scene 1732

1732 Nicolas Lancret (French artist, 1690-1743) A Family in a Garden taking Coffee with some children

1700s Families on Terraces & Outdoors

Francis Hayman Portrait of  Samuel Richardson the-Novelist 1684-1761 with his 2nd Family 1740

John Wootton, The Beauchamp-Proctor Family and Friends at Langley Park, Norfolk, 1749

Benjamin Ferrers (1695–1732) A Family on the garden terrace of a country house

Benjamin Ferrers (1695–1732) Three Ladies of the Leman Family & their Dogs on a Garden Terrace 1728

 British School 18C A Family in a Landscape 1750

Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) A Family Group in a Park Landscape 1775

 Hugh Barron (1745–1791) Portrait of Mr Leroy with his Daughter

Hugh Barron (1745–1791) The Children of George Bond of Ditchleys 1768.

Hugh Barron (1747-1791) Portrait of a young boy holding a cricket bat with a young girl and a spaniel

Hugh Barron (1747-1791) John 2nd Earl of Egmont (1711-1770) and His Family

Johann Heinrich Strumpff A Family Portrait 1766 

Unknown Artist Portrait of the Sayer Family

Josef Frans Nollekens (Flemish-born British artist, 1702-1748) Playing with a Hobby Horse on a Garden Terrace 1741-47

Josef Frans Nollekens (Flemish-born British artist, 1702-1748) Portrait of a Family on a Garden Terrace (1740)

1743 Edwardy Haytley (English artist, (1740-61)  The Montagu family at their Sandleford Priory estate in Berkshire

Philippe Mercier (1689-1760) Lord Tyrconnel (on the left) with his family in the grounds of Belton House

1744-46 Edwardy Haytley (English artist, (1740-61) The Brockman Family at Beachborough Temple Pond

1740s Edwardy Haytley (English artist, (1740-61) The Brockman family at Beachborough Manor

1756 Arthur Devis (English artist, 1712-1787) Edward Gordon, His Sister Mrs Miles and Her Husband in their Garden at Bromley

1773 Edward Smith (English artist) An Angling Party in the Garden (perhaps The Willyams Family at Carnanton)

Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder, called the Kasseler (1722-1789), Portrait of the Timmermann Family on the Garden Terrace