Ines Unetič, PhD Researcher Department of Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia ines.unetic@ff.uni-lj.si
THE HISTORICAL IN EUROPEAN GARDEN ART OF THE LATE 18TH AND EARLY 19TH CENTURY The 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century was a period of many social, political, and economic changes that were reflected in a new culture, philosophy, and comprehension of the human space (that humans actively form). This was also a period of transition from baroque to landscape garden style. In this period the baroque formal garden designs start to change – they increasingly became a product of variété, a need to add something new, interesting, and exciting. On the other hand the importance of nature in this time grew greater, which can be seen in the soft lines of new landscape designs. Linkage in both garden styles was in this transitional time greater than we can imagine, as they had a similar mental scheme (influenced by variété) and usually coexisted in the same space (due to progressive changes of the garden spaces). Interesting motifs of this stage of the garden art were constructed elements that derived from the past or the imaginary world. Smaller historical architecture in such a manner began to complete the gardens and had different roles: visual (as staffage that build a prospect of garden), sentimental (to agitate different feelings of the visitors, to remind of same era, of literature or of importance of natural), and patriotic or nationalistic (to remind about the success of land or an individual). These historical elements in the gardens of the 18th and the 19th century point to a rebirth of motifs from the past and display a decline and metamorphosis of the political system and society. In various European countries they had a different significance and image; In England they liked to use gothic or Palladian architecture in gardens, meanwhile in France they emphasized natural architecture and enjoyed in motifs from the Far East, and in Germany they strove to raise national consciousness, etc. The gardens of that time – although today comprehended as a demonstrator of new social and political changes – become spaces often understandable only to a handful of people and in many parts of Europe a spaces of somehow altered prestige garden celebrations – each of which is a reminiscence of former absolutistic courts. In my contribution I would like to demonstrate same historical motifs in designed gardens of the late 18th and early 19th century in Europe (in English, French, German and present Slovenian territory) and I would try to present their role and significance in the society of that period.
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