I often get asked to lecture about gardens and landscapes in art, and although I like talking about pictures that people probably don’t know, I always like to include one that everybody thinks they know very well but actually probably don’t.
As you will probably have gathered it’s Gainsborough’s famous double portrait Mr & Mrs Andrews. Despite its popularity I think there still a lot of things that viewers don’t always notice, and certainly the background story to the painting is usually something of a surprise.
We all have our favourite gardening books, whether for the quality of the illustrations, -usually the first thing one notices when flicking through – the quality of the writing – which takes more time to appreciate or perhaps for the style and approach the author takes. My favourite scores highly on all three counts, and I wasn’t surprised to find it was also a favourite of several other people when I ran a course about garden writing recently. Published in 1977 and in print ever since it’s The Pleasure Garden by Anne Scott-James and Osbert Lancaster, and if you haven’t read it I hope by the time you’ve finished this post you’ll rush out and buy it immediately.
I’m amazed to think that the blog has now been running for 6 years, and like all 6 year olds it’s still growing. This year there have been about 55,000 hits, made by about 26,000 visitors. I’m also amazed that this is the 310th post which means I’ve probably written well over six hundred thousand words of wisdom. Be warned that there almost as many more in the pipeline – some just a title, others a series of notes or images, while a few are nearing completion. Ideas are always welcome for other possibilities, especially if they are offbeat, slightly quirky or humorous.
The Garden History Blog 
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