| Unit name | The Italian Renaissance Garden |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ARCHM0108 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Emeritus Professor. Mowl |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Anthropology and Archaeology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit explores the Renaissance garden from it origins in the walled Persian paradise parks to its contemporary interpretations. It is offered as an alternative, Bristol-based, unit for those unable to travel to Florence and take advantage of ARCH M70111. Reflecting both Roman and Islamic influences, the medieval hortus conclusus opened up in the fifteenth century with the rediscovery of classical horticultural texts. The early Renaissance gardens emerged in Tuscany where successive Medici estates from the fortress, Il Trebbio, to the neo-Platonic Villa Medici demonstrate the shift from defensive enclosure to rural playground. The return of the Papacy to Rome and Bramante's design for the Vatican's Belvedere Court initiated a new concept of space, with axial layout, terracing and statuary becoming key features. The exploitation of dramatic sites in Frascati, south of Rome, introduced theatrical waterworks, while the development of sophisticated allegorical programmes at Castello, Villa d'Este, Villa Lante and Bomarzo show the garden evolving into a place of intellectual games as well as sensual pleasures. The northern Italian tradition is explored through Palladio's villas and their legacy abroad. The nineteenth-century Anglo-American rediscovery of Renaissance horticulture is followed in the works of Wharton, Sitwell and Triggs, while the Italian Revival is examined in the gardens of Peto, Mawson and Lutyens in England and those of Cecil Pinsent and his clients in Italy. Twentieth-century interpretations of the Italian style are explored through the works of Russell Page, Pietro Porcinai, Maria Shephard-Parpagliolo and Geoffrey Jellicoe.
Aims:
Since it forms the basis of the western horticultural tradition, it is essential that garden historians have a broad understanding of the Italian Renaissance garden. This unit will explore the origins of the Renaissance garden, its key features and underlying principles and its legacy. It will examine the art, literature and theorists that inspired the Renaissance garden, the designers that created it, the patrons that supported it and the critics that promoted it.
This unit will expose the student to key examples of the Renaissance garden in Italy and abroad. It will introduced the political, social and philosophical ideas behind the Renaissance garden and its nineteenth and twentieth-century revivals.
Seminars
Assessed essay (5,000words).
