- 288
Brooke, Edward Adveno
Description
- The Gardens of England. London: T. McLean, 1857.
- paper, ink, leather
Literature
Catalogue Note
Many of the gardens were begun in earlier times, but most feature additions, sometimes in the Italian style, which proved a major attraction for Brooke. The magnificent gardens depicted include those at Trentham Park (laid out by Capability Brown with additions by Charles Barry in the 1840s), Enville Hall (gardens extended in the mid-19th century and celebrated for its fountains, its floral display, and its domed and turreted oriental palace of a conservatory), Bowood House (originally laid out by Capability Brown but with Italianate terraces added), Alton Towers, Elvaston Castle (famous for its splendid arboretum), Shrublands Hall (Italianate terraces by Barry), Woburn Abbey (a Repton masterpiece), Holkham House (William Kent-Capability Brown, with extensive 1850s additions including a parterre with the Earl of Leicester's initials in box, and a pair of flower beds in a Louis XIV pattern accompanying a fountain representing St. George and the dragon), Castle Howard (whose modern additions included a new parterre using yew hedges to frame the lawns and the Triton Fountain taken from the Great Exhibition), and others.
There are no other pictorial surveys that can match Brooke's work for its scale or its scope: it is one of the truly great gardening books. A lovely copy.