The Garden History Blog

Old Shrewsbury Bridge, Paul Sandby, undated late 18thc. Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge

Last week’s post looked the origins of the picturesque movement and today’s is going to look at its flourishing at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19thc centuries. That’s when the pendulum swung away from the Beautiful towards the Sublime encouraged  by a group of theorists, critics and garden-makers.  But it wasn’t a coherent or unanimous move…

Lets start by introducing the new theorists of the picturesque who rejected Capability Brown and all his works, and who were more interested in that wilder  end of the landscape and garden spectrum.

From the Tour of Dr Syntax by William Combe 1812

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detail of Lake, Ruins and Pine Trees,
Richard Wilson, c.1765-70, Tate

After two recent posts about Piercefield, the picturesque landscape near Chepstow,  I thought it might be a good idea to explore the idea of the Picturesque a bit more.  It’s one of those terms tossed about in garden history and art history books, often without much by way of explanation of the terminology. After all we all know what picturesque means in gardens and paintings don’t we? 

Actually I’m not sure we do.  

So I thought I’d turn to the experts so checked the website of the Tate Gallery for an authoritative answer. It tells us that “the word picturesque refers to an ideal type of landscape that has an artistic appeal, in that it is beautiful but also with some elements of wildness”   See if you think that’s inclusive enough when you’ve read the rest of the post, although I suspect that like me, you’ll still be confused!

from William Gilpin’s Observations on the river Wye, 1782

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Orchis italica © mick_photo, CC BY-NC 4.0

Look at almost any website  about orchids and you’ll discover that there is a Greek myth which explains how they came into being and how they got their name.  The myth tells of  Orchis, the son of a satyr and a nymph, who clearly inherited some of his father’s libidinous behaviour. He is said to have assaulted or even raped a priestess of Dionysus, the god of wine.  The god took his revenge by having Orchis torn apart by wild beasts and then scattering the bits to the four winds.  `His father was obviously distraught and begged for the gods to bring him back to life. In vain. However they did agree to transform each of the bits of his body into a flower which is named after him – in other words  they became orchids.   Sounds convincing doesn’t it – not very nice but then nobody’s ever claimed that Greek myths were  pleasant!

There’s only one problem with the story….

Any idea which orchid this is? Orchis certainly would’t have known it.

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