Repton's Red Book for Sunderidge Park

Humphry Repton found his vocation as a landscape gardener relatively late in life. He was born in Suffolk and spent his first three decades as a textile merchant, country squire, private secretary, art critic and even worked to reform the mail-coach system. These careers brought him little success and by 1788 he and his family were in the shadow of the ‘dread of poverty’.

Following the death of Capability Brown in 1783 the world of gardening was in need of a new leading figure. Humphry Repton embraced this opportunity and within a year of establishing his practice he was a success and living 'in a state of ease and comparative affluence'.

By 1805 Humphry Repton had a healthy list of clients including aristocrats, country squires and merchants who would pay five guineas a day, plus expenses, for his vision. The delicate watercolours and copperplate written advice in his Red Books came at an additional cost.

Red Books were named after the colour of their leather binding, although the first red books were not always red. The book for Sunderidge was later rebound in blue.

Repton’s Red Books were a unique marketing tool. Compiled after he had visited a client, walking their grounds and discussing the landscape’s potential, the books are filled with watercolours showing ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenes. Lifting a paper flap, or reveal, shows a view transformed. Repton described his Red Books as a ‘means of making my ideas equally visible, or intelligible to others’.

Repton had a lifelong love of performance. The ‘slides’ and ‘reveals’ of a Repton Red Book were created to entertain and delight his clients, as well as sell his services. Perhaps some inspiration came from the peep show boxes where a paying audience would peer into a wooden cabinet to see the magical movement of miniature cut-out scenes manipulated by strings.

This Red Book opens with an impressive double page drawing showing a view of Sunderidge before Repton's suggested improvements.

The same view of Sunderidge after Repton's suggested improvements.

In 1793 Geogre Edward Lind asked for Repton's advice after buying Sundridge Park in Bromley. Repton created the Red Book for the site the same year.

The 18th century picturesque ideal of a landscape garden is as a succession of views which flow into one another as the viewer moves through the scene. Views from and to the house were important, therefore Repton began by considering the character and situation of the house.

A birds eye view of the site with the kitchen garden, woodlands and approach to the current house marked. The Repton marks two pionts, A and B, that he goes on to suggest would be the best place for a new house.

Here Repton writes about the current house and expresses that the view from here is difficult to improve as the ground slopes towards the house 'which is even worse than a dead flat'. He is gently persuading Lind to erect a new house.

A view of the woods before Repton's suggested improvements.

A view of the woods after Repton's suggested improvements.

Repton continues to comment on how the woods can be improved, reflecting on the removal of the fence and where, if one was necessary, a fence could be hidden.

Repton wrote in a sure manner but was not without his critics. In the 1790s, theorists on the picturesque, Uvedale Price and Richard Payne Knight, attacked Repton’s designs as commercial and vulgar. However, Repton rose above this criticism writing in his Red Book for Honing (1793): 'convenience ought to take the lead [ . . .] the picturesque effect is too dearly bought at the price of comfort'

Repton again compares the 'incompatible' objectives of beauty and profit. Here he is advising on the land used for farming and writes: 'I am a strenuous advocate for keeping distinct the opposite ideas of Farm and Park'

Repton suggests improvements to the existing house such as covering the brick with a stone coloured wash. This improvement is shown in the following drawing.

A view of the house before Repton's suggested improvements.

A view of the house after Repton's suggested improvements.

Here Repton suggests the possible sites for a new house, marked A and B on the birds eye view of the park. He considers valley views from the house, how to hide the boundary of the park and the backdrop behind the house.

A view from the approach before Repton's suggested improvements.

A view from the approach after Repton's suggested improvements.