The Claudians Chapter 10 Gardenesque gardens

By 1828 Loudon was having serious doubts about his youthful enthusiasm for the Picturesque style of garden and landscape design. This resulted from his having seen and admired the ‘formal’ gardens, which had been so damned in eighteenth century England, and from the writings of the French neoclassical art historian Quatremere de Quincy. He wanted to discuss the aesthetic problem with a fellow Scotsman, Blaikie, who had lived in France for many years. So he decided to visit Paris. This led him to shift his allegiance away from the pure Picturesque style. His idea was to make gardens using the picturesque forms of natural landscapes but to plant them with exotic garden species and thus make them recognisable as works of art. So he called it the Gardenesque style. Blaikie supported his approach.

Steamships from Brighton Pier

Thomas Blaikie Scottish Gardener - 

Quatremère de Quincy - 

Gardenesque planting design - 

Old Physick Garden Leith Walk - 

La Bagatelle - 

Monsieur Belanger - 

Parc Monceau - 

Versailles and the French Revolution - 

Voltaire Villa Ferney - 

Jacobin Club - 

Grand Fêtes at Versailles - 

Loudon's Gardenesque influence on 19th century garden design and planting -

Chapter index pages Introduction, Chapter 1: Somers and Buchanans, Chapter 2: Loudons, Chapter 3: Indian Mission, Chapter 4: Picturesque Gardens, Chapter 5: Farming Landscapes, Chapter 6: Prussian Gardens, Chapter 7: Russian Gardens, Chapter 8: Buchanan’s Destiny, Chapter 9: Italian Gardens, Chapter 10: Gardenesque Gardens, Chapter 11: Utilitarian Landscapes, Chapter 12: Marriage, Chapter 13: Landscape Architecture, Chapter 14: Family Reunion, Chapter 15: Loudon’s Zenith, Chapter 16: Valedictory, Afterword.