
The Renaissance Garden
For “Paradise”... means nothing more than a most pleasant garden, abundant with all pleasing and delightful things, of trees, apples, flowers, vivid running waters, song of birds and in effect, all the amenities dreamed of by the heart of man...
Lorenzo de’ Medici Il Magnifico (1449 – 92)
In the late fifteenth century a new concept of the garden began to emerge in Renaissance Europe. Based on a preoccupation with the classical garden, the way of organising plant material was now governed by a formal, geometric approach, and ornament in the garden was enriched by the re-introduction of a range of forms from antiquity. This heralded the creation of gardens of unmatched splendour. The notion took hold that magnificent gardens could enhance the prestige and status of monarchs and princes, and with this came the first accurate depictions of existing gardens in Western art.
Fantasy and reality were closely linked in the Renaissance garden and Italy was the crucible for the theatrical and awe-inspiring new effects which were eagerly sought after in gardens throughout Europe. Inspiration came from both classical mythology and contemporary Italian literary sources. The extraordinary – water mazes, elaborate topiary or obelisks – appeared in Renaissance art alongside the commonplace – pergolas and knots.

Pleasure Garden with a Maze by Lodewijk Toeput ©
Lodewijk Toeput (c. 1550-c. 1605)
Pleasure Garden with a Maze
Attributed to Francesco Colonna (1432-33-c. 1527)
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
British School, 16th century
The Family of Henry VIII
Petrus de Crescentiis (c. 1230–35–c. 1320)
Ruralia Commoda
Franciabigio (Florence 1484-1525)
Portrait of Jacopo Cennini
Isaac Oliver (c. 1565-1617)
A Young Man Seated Under a Tree
Charles Clusius (1526-1609)
Rariorum plantarum historia / Carolus Clusius.
John Gerard (1545-1612)
The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes
Andreas Alciati (1492-1550)
Emblemata
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 BC-AD 17)
Metamorphoses d'Ovide en rondeaux imprimes et enrichis de figures par ordre de sa majesté ...
Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger (Antwerp c. 1580 - The Hague? 1649)
Figures on a Terrace
Style of Johannes Stradanus (Bruges 1523-Florence 1605)
May
Attributed to Giulio Romano (Rome c. 1499-Mantua 1546)
Boys among apple trees
Attributed to Francesco Colonna (1432-33-c. 1527)