Gardens on Paper

Book excerpt: Arranged chronologically, the five chapters present the image of the garden as it evolves from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century. Early prints illustrate biblical garden scenes and medieval gardens of love, while Renaissance images portray secular gardens and typographical plans and views. The grand style of the garden design emerges in the baroque period, followed by a more natural style in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, garden imagery changes as artists begin to depict small, private gardens and public parks rather than the great aristocratic estates.