The illustrated garden

The Museum Plantin-Moretus has a wealth of prints and drawings that beautifully illustrate the evolution of gardens over time. The garden. A living piece of nature. The extension of our personality, of our dreams. A mirror of our society: its abilities, its ideas, its developments, its needs.But needs change over time and so do gardens. Although the quest for happiness continues to be the same. Over time, however, where and how we seek it, the resources and the gardens have changed.The Museum Plantin-Moretus has a wealth of prints and drawings that beautifully illustrate the evolution of gardens.

Wondrous gardens that fuel the imagination

According to ancient authors, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of the fabled hanging gardens of Babylon 2500 years ago to lift the spirits of his young, homesick bride. They mention the ingenious irrigation techniques with spirals and waterwheels to pump water from the river to the garden.

These gardens, which were probably built near present-day Baghdad, were a place of supreme happiness for the occupants of this desert land. The Persian word for an enclosed pleasure garden is Pairi-dae-za by the way.

Convent Gardens

For medieval monks the enclosed convent garden was a paradise, a place for reflection and contemplation. Here they grew the resources for their daily needs, including fruit, vegetables and medicinal herbs. The gardens were subdivided into rectangular, often raised, beds, each with their specific crops. This practical, contemplative approach continued to be popular in the 17th century. Although the beds became more contrived, as you can tell from this image of the Augustinian convent in Antwerp, the present-day AMUZ.

Castle Gardens

A medieval walled fortress had to be a place where the lord could retreat for protection in case of an enemy attack. At the same time, it also had to provide the necessary food. In his Spring, Peter Brueghel illustrates how fortresses evolved into more sophisticated castles with walled gardens, where crops were grown in raised beds, under the lord’s supervision. But these lords wished to combine the useful with the pleasant. Fragrant ornamental plants stimulated the senses in a garden full of useful crops, transforming the enclosed garden into the perfect setting for a joyful rendez-vous.

The Renaissance idea of “Carpe Diem”

The Renaissance began in the 14th century in the Italian city-states of rich citizens, bankers, and the higher clergy. Man was at the centre of everything. The Renaissance drew on antiquity for inspiration. Gardens had harmonious geometric shapes and the beds were often edged with neatly clipped box hedges. These grandiose concepts were often planted on hills outside the city, where fresh air was in plentiful supply, like at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli. Classic sculptures, obelisks, promenades, and labyrinths were all part of this thrilling mix. Whereas the labyrinth represented the journey to Jerusalem in medieval gardens, it became a sensuous quest for nature, for worldly pleasures, a place to seize the day, in the renaissance garden.

The Renaissance garden was also a place for festivities in the Low Countries

Hans Vredeman de Vries, architect, fortress builder, painter, and a master of perspective, introduced renaissance views in the Low Countries. His book Hortorum viridariorumque elegantes et multiplices formae was the first series of prints to be entirely dedicated to gardens in western art. He associated the individual garden concepts with the three orders of antiquity, namely Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns. He also showed people how they could enjoy themselves in the garden, i.e., by playing pall-mall or dancing.

How (pseudo)science and discoveries influenced gardens

Renaissance man wanted to get to know the world around him better. He also wanted to observe and understand the movements of celestial bodies. These were important in navigation but their position was also said to influence the growth of plants and agriculture. Plants had to be sown, harvested and pruned under particular configurations of stars. Nowadays, biodynamic farmers still believe that the cosmos influences the development of plants. The print Spring, the period in which we traditionally tend to our gardens, features the three constellations through which the sun moves at this specific time of the year, i.e., Aries, Taurus and Gemini.

The discovery and exploration of remote, new territories brought exotic plants to Europe, which were studied at length by botanists. Dodoens, Clusius, and Lobelius conducted ground-breaking research, while Plantin helped disseminate this knowledge by publishing their books. Rembert Dodoens’s ‘Het Cruydtboek’, which was originally written in Old Flemish, was first published in 1554. This best-seller was translated into Latin and republished several times, including a Japanese edition in the 18th century.

Exotic refinement

People’s views on the world changed. Exotic refinement and sensuality fuelled the imagination. Lavish, luxurious gardens served as a setting for biblical stories, such as the story of David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba was the wife of one of King David’s soldiers. She was stunning and David slept with her. In this print by D. Vinckboons, we see David gazing down from his tower at the lavish garden. He is wearing a tulip-shaped hat. A sensuous, semi-nude Bathsheba receives his invitation while seated at a fountain of life. Two rabbits are clearly having a good time right next to her.

17th century Baroque: Absolutism and the delusions of grandeur of kings, the nobility and the rich elite

In the 17th century, the Renaissance made way for the baroque, a dynamic world of movement, feelings and dramatic effects. The French King Louis XIV put this style to good use, to exhibit his absolutism. Everything, even nature, was subjugated to the king. André Le Nôtre designed a harmonious park, with wide, central avenues, majestic fountains, canals, grottoes, intricate lacy parterres and a menagerie with birds by a water feature for the Castle of Versailles.

The nobility soon followed suit. Enghien Castle, which belonged to the French kings, was sold to the Dukes of Arenberg in the 17th century. They built one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe era here. Our own baroque icon P.P. Rubens commissioned a new-style garden for his Antwerp palazzo. The garden was redone twenty years after his death, by the then owner, H. Hillewerve, who was the brother-in-law of Balthazar II Moretus.

Philosophers introduce new garden concepts

In the 18th century, philosophers such as Victor Hugo and Jean-Jacques Rousseau opposed monarchic absolutism. Sophisticated gardens and the control of nature was no longer deemed acceptable. Man had to become one with nature. The idealised landscape gardens of England were soon adopted throughout Europe.

A good example is Schoonenberg Castle, or Laeken Castle as we now call it. This was built between 1781 and 1785 for the Governors of the Netherlands, Archduke Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen and his wife Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria. The 59-hectare garden was built according to the rules of Lancelot Capability Brown, with grottos, ponds, a love island, a Temple of Friendship and a Temple of the Sun. There also was a large Chinese-style tower. A yacht, with pennons in the colours of the Dukes of Teschen, was moored on the river, which was a branch of the canal. The locals could let their herds graze in the pastures in front of the castle.

The industrial revolution has an impact on society, nature and gardens

From the mid-1700s onwards and especially in the mid-1800s, new technologies brought about sweeping changes. Man started to produce cast iron, steel, steam turbines, steam trains and electricity in large factories. This inevitably led to urbanisation with densely-populated neighbourhoods. The city dwellers pined for green areas.

The Zoo was built around 1850 in Antwerp. Here you could enjoy a nice walk, and even see an elephant, if you could afford the ticket, that is.