Lost Gardens

Renaissance means 'rebirth'. It started in Italy in the 15th century. A new respect for the architecture and culture of ancient Rome and Greece led to the revival of classical styles - a revival that embraced most of Europe by the 16th century.

Books of engravings played their part in spreading the word. This illustration comes from Giovanni Battista Falda's 1670 book of gardens in Rome: 'Li Giardini di Roma'. It shows the Pontifical Garden on the Quirinale, one of the seven hills of Rome.

The revived classical style was marked by orderliness, symmetry, and carefully observed proportions. These principles were reflected in garden design, which came to be seen as an extension of the architecture of the house. Gardens were compartmentalised into a series of 'rooms' with different uses or themes. Statues lined the pathways between as if they stood in hallways.

The head gardener's traditional practices became subordinated to the grander visions of garden design, just as the ancient authority of the master mason had been usurped by a new breed of builder: the gentleman architect.

Classical style imposed order on unruly Nature. It paralleled the new relationship with the world that was emerging from the rise of a science based on observation and experiment rather than superstition and religious dogma.

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