Tag Archives: Gardens

British Views

Green and Pleasant Land, Jonathan Cooper, 20 Park Walk, London SW10, until 23rd July 2016

Taha Afshar Cedar Hayes Oil on canvas over panel 21 x 24.5ins (53.3 x 62.2cm)

Taha Afshar
Cedar Hayes
Oil on canvas over panel
21 x 24.5ins (53.3 x 62.2cm)

This show is a celebration of Visit England’s naming 2016 the ‘Year of the English Garden’ and the fact that it is the 300th anniversary of ‘Capability’ Brown’s birth.  Six contemporary artists – Taha Afshar, Roland Corbin, Julia Hawkins, Tom Mabon, Jane Wormell, and John Worthington – evocatively depict the glories of the British landscape, gardens and wildlife whether rural or urban.

John Worthington Trusty and True Oil on aluminium 29.5 x 39.38ins (75 x 100cm)

John Worthington
Trusty and True
Oil on aluminium
29.5 x 39.38ins (75 x 100cm)

http://www.jonathancooper.co.uk

Jane Wormell Blackberry Hedge II Oil on linen 12 x 20ins (30.5 x 50.8cm)

Jane Wormell
Blackberry Hedge II
Oil on linen
12 x 20ins (30.5 x 50.8cm)

 

Julia Hawkins Quiet Evening at Pyrford Lock Oil on canvas 14 x 18ins (35.6 x 45.7cm)

Julia Hawkins
Quiet Evening at Pyrford Lock
Oil on canvas
14 x 18ins (35.6 x 45.7cm)

 

Tom Mabon Bird and Rising Moon Oil on linen 18 x 18ins (45.7 x 45.7cm)

Tom Mabon
Bird and Rising Moon
Oil on linen
18 x 18ins (45.7 x 45.7cm)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roland Corbin On the Water Watercolour on Fabriano Artistico paper 22.5 x 29.5ins (57.1 x 74.9cm)

Roland Corbin
On the Water
Watercolour on Fabriano Artistico paper
22.5 x 29.5ins (57.1 x 74.9cm)

The Empress and the Gardener

The Empress and the Gardener, Hampton Court Palace, Hampton Court, Surrey KT8 9AU, until 4th September 2016

The West Front of Hampton Court Palace © State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

The West Front of Hampton Court Palace
© State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

This is a fine exhibition which combines ‘Capability’ Brown’s role as gardener to King George III and Catherine the Great’s love of things English.  The sixty watercolours and drawings on show reveal the gardens of Hampton Court as they were when Brown was in charge of them but ironically he did not transform them out of respect to these who had created these Baroque-style gardens.

The Privy Garden © State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

The Privy Garden
© State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

In Russia Catherine had created an ‘English palace’ and ‘English Park’ but lacked a gardener of Brown’s capabilities. However seeing an opportunity Brown’s assistant John Spyers sold two albums of his drawings which he had removed from Brown’s house at Hampton Court to the Empress for a thousand roubles. A huge amount for images that did not show any of Brown’s work and the drawings were lost in the Hermitage collections until their rediscovery in 2002.

The Fountain in the East Front Garden © State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

The Fountain in the East Front Garden
© State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

Other items on show include portraits of Brown and the Empress, drawings of her English Palace and pieces from the famous Wedgwood Frog Service, made for the Empress, which depict some of the famous English landscapes Brown created.

Portrait of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, by Richard Cosway (C) Private Collection - Bridgeman Images

Portrait of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, by Richard Cosway
(C) Private Collection – Bridgeman Images

 http://www.hrp.org.uk/

East South Front © State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

East South Front
© State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9AU, 5th – 10th July 2016

 

Le Clos d'Hastings ©Stéphane Marie.

Le Clos d’Hastings
©Stéphane Marie.

 World Gardens are a major theme at this year’s show with six gardens reflecting their particular part of the globe and bringing a flavour of why these are popular travel destinations.

The Oregon Garden, The Charleston Garden and The Austin Garden bring these differing areas very much to life while Journey Latin America’s Inca Garden celebrates the Incas and evokes the excitement Hiram Bingham must have felt in 1911 on discovering the lost Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.  Europe is celebrated in The Route of the Camellia Garden a route which took pilgrims through Galicia on their way to the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela.  The last historic garden is the ‘Le Clos d’Hastings’ – 1066 Country Medieval Garden. 

Designed by Stephane Marie, this garden which marks the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings is a joint collaboration between the Parks and Gardens of Normandy and the District of Hastings.  It consists of two sections one recalling medieval meadows with barley, flax, marguerites and wildflowers while the other more densely planted section is a riot of plants from around the world which both the Normans and English enjoy today, united by their shared love of botany and gardening.

It won a Bronze!

 

 

http://www.rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt

WP_20160704_15_02_09_Pro

RHS show information: http://www.rhs.org.uk/shows

WP_20160704_15_11_42_Pro

 RHS Garden Holidays (http://www.rhsgardenholidays.com)

WP_20160704_14_59_07_Pro

BOOK REVIEW: A Brush with Brown

A Brush with Brown

The Landscapes of ‘Capability’ Brown

Tim Scott Bolton

Dovecote Press
ISBN 978-0-9929151-3-1
£25.00

 

 51hVcKFUYPL

In his thoughtful introduction Prince Charles reminds us that Brown was made Chief Master Gardener at Hampton Court Palace by George III and that he restructured the grounds of Buckingham House  ‘the foundations of which survive today as the gardens of Buckingham Palace’.

For this really enjoyable celebration of ‘Capability’ Brown’s genius the accomplished artist Tim Scott Bolton visited and recorded nearly a third of the gardens Brown is known to have been involved with from the north of England to the south.  The text is also enriched by Scott Bolton’s observations on the thoughts and processes behind his pictures.

I shall leave you with this thought:

“A contemporary of ‘Capability’ Brown’s once said to him, ‘I very earnestly wish I may die before you, Mr Brown.’

‘Why so?’ he replied.

‘Because I would like to see Heaven before you have improved it.’”

 

 

http://www.dovecotepress.com

Sublime Gardens

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, Main Galleries, Royal Academy of Art, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1, until 20th April 2016

Auguste Renoir, Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873 Oil on canvas, 46.7 x 59.7 cm Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. Bequest of Anne Parrish Titzell, 1957.614 Photo (c) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

Auguste Renoir, Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873
Oil on canvas, 46.7 x 59.7 cm
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. Bequest of Anne Parrish Titzell, 1957.614
Photo (c) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

The star of this show which celebrates artists and gardens is, of course, Claude Monet.  Rightly so because he was a serious horticulturalist and one would certainly not disagree with him when he wrote ‘I perhaps owe it to flowers that I became a painter’.

It is a large show that welcomes more than one visit and the fact that like some gardens the paintings are arranged in themed rooms such as Impressionist Gardens or Gardens of Reverie gives the visitor ample scope to re-visit as one would a favourite part of a garden.

Joaquin Sorolla, Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1911 Oil on canvas, 150 x 225.5 cm On loan from the Hispanic Society of America, New York, NY Photo (c) Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York

Joaquin Sorolla, Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1911
Oil on canvas, 150 x 225.5 cm
On loan from the Hispanic Society of America, New York, NY
Photo (c) Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York

The paintings whether Impressionist, Postimpressionist or Avant Garde tell a story too of the growing interest in gardens by the middle classes through a variety of materials such as journals, receipts and letters.

Although not a gardener myself I enjoyed this show and found myself deeply moved in the last room where the three great Monet water lily paintings – the Agapanthus Triptych of 1916 – 1919, normally in the The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art and Saint Louis Art Museum, hang reunited once more.

Claude Monet, Nympheas (Waterlilies), 1914-15 Oil on canvas, 160.7 x 180.3 cm Portland Art Museum, Oregon. Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund, 59.16 Photo (c) Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon

Claude Monet, Nympheas (Waterlilies), 1914-15
Oil on canvas, 160.7 x 180.3 cm
Portland Art Museum, Oregon. Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund, 59.16
Photo (c) Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon

www.royalacademy.org.uk