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Use: Owners started to look back, beyond the baroque, beyond the renaissance, beyond the middle ages: to the classical origins of western culture. They wanted gardens which recalled the landscape of antiquity and could be used as places of reflection: on literature, history, natural science and the affairs of the day. Discussions with a few friends might take place while strolling through the grounds or sipping tea on a well placed seat. Classical ornament and allusion contributed to theme. For landowners who had been on the Grand Tour, the Augustan garden served as a reminder and as a place to display souveniers (eg urns and statues).
Form: The first 'landscape gardens' in England were inspired by visions of the Roman landscape in the time of the Emperor Augustus. They were classical landscapes with woods, water, grass and small temples. William Kent was one of the first professional designers to give physical form to this vision. The diagram shows part of the garden as a carry-over from the baroque and part as an early exercise in the re-creation of a classical landscape. Between 1720 and 1745 the placing of temples and statues was more important than the overall plan.
Castle Howard, Chiswick House, Claremont Landscape Garden, Middleton Place, Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, Park an der Ilm, Weimar, Pavlosk, Rousham, Stourhead, Stowe Landscape Gardens, Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey, Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin), Worlitz Park,
