Arcadian Visions: Pastoral Influences on Poetry, Painting and the Design of Landscape

301 Pages·2015·9.249 MB·English

by  Allan R. Ruff

Arcadian Visions
Pastoral Influences on Poetry,
Painting and the Design of Landscape
Allan R. Ruff
Windgather Press is an imprint of Oxbow Books
Published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by
OXBOW BOOKS
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and in the United States by
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© Windgather Press and Allan R. Ruff 2015
Hardback Edition: ISBN 978-1-909686-66-3
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-909686-67-0
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Contents
List of Illustrations, Sources and Credits v
Preface ix
1. The Classical Origins of Arcadia 1
2. Virgil: the house, garden and landscape 15
3. The Christian World and Arcadia 21
4. Venice and the Pastoral Landscape 35
5. Rome and the Pastoral Landscape 43
6. The Dutch Republic and the Golden Age of Landscape 53
7. Changes to the Pastoral Vision in Eighteenth-Century England 70
8. Arcadia and the Pastoral Landscape Realised 81
9. The Happy Rural Life 95
10. The Coming of the Picturesque and the Romantics 110
11. The Pastoral Vision and the American Dream 131
12. America and Religious Pastoral 149
13. Ruskin, Morris and the Garden City 163
14. Pastoral Visions of England and the First World War 181
15. Modernism and Anti-Pastoral Landscape 200
16. The Workers’ Pastoral 213
17. Arcadia Revisited: the ecological landscape 231
18. Eco-Pastoral: the pastoral redefined 246
19. Final Thoughts 267
Timeline 273
Bibliography 277
Index 283

List of Illustrations, Sources and Credits
Plates
18. Cornelis Troost: Blindmans Buff c.1740.
1. Arcadia today. Author’s photograph. Purchase with the support of: Vereniging
2. Pan teaching the shepherd Daphnis to play the Rembrandt 1939 Museum Boijmans Van
panpipes. Haiduc. Beuningen, Rotterdam.
3. Virgil mosaic. I, Cybjog. 19. Claes Jansz Visscher: Bleaching Fields beyond
Haarlem Woods c.1611–12. Los Angeles County
4. The Canopus, at Hadrian’s villa near Rome.
Museum of Art. www.lacma.org.in.
Author’s photograph.
20. Adriaen van der Velde: Family in Landscape
5. English or German fifth century book
c.1667. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
illustration. PD-Art Yorck Project.
21. Jan van Goyen: View of Haarlem. c.1646.
6. The ruins of Virgil’s tomb, Naples. Armando
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Mancini.
www.metmuseum.org.
7. Simone Martini: Petrarch’s Virgil.
22. Paulus Potter: Young Bull c.1647. Century
Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.
Magazine 48(6) Old Dutch Masters Paul Potter.
8. Villa Careggi. Sailko.
23. Rembrandt van Rijn: View of Omval c.1645.
9. Apollonio di Giovanni: The Eclogues. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Riccardiana ms. 492, fol.lr. By permission of
24. Dryden’s Georgics of Virgil. © Andybrill.
the Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence.
25. Autumnal Richmond Hill and Thames.
10. Signorelli: The Realm of Pan. Vasari, G., Lives
© Colin Smith licensed for reuse under this
of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and
Creative Common License.
Architects, Vol. 4. The Project Gutenberg EBook
26. Ruins of seventeenth century Southdean Parish
28420. 2009.
Church. © Walter Baxter.
11. Giovanni Bellini: St Francis in Ecstasy c.1475–8
27. Hagley Hall today. Author’s photograph.
© The Frick Collection.
28. Kent (and Tardieu): Spring – from James
12. Giorgione: Fete Champetre c.1510. © RMN
Thomson, The Seasons c.1730.
(Musée du Louvre)/Hervé Lewandowski.
© Royal Academy of Arts.
13. Boldrini after Titian: Landscape with a
29. Rousham: Kent’s drawing for the gothic
Milkmaid c.1530–1550. Courtesy National
farmhouse and the ruined classical arch.
Gallery of Art, Washington.
Courtesy of C. Cottrell-Dormer.
14. The Villa Borghese on the Pincian Hill. The
30. Rousham: view from the gardens today. Source
Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha
unknown.
Whittelsey Fund, 1961, www.metmuseum.org
31. Rousham: William Kent: Vale of Venus.
15. Claude: Pastoral Landscape: The Roman
Courtesy of C. Cottrell-Dormer.
Campagna c.1646–7, www.metmuseum.org.
32. Rousham: the Vale of Venus today.
16. Castle Howard: the Temple of the Four Winds
© www.gardenvisit.com.
with Mausoleum and bridge in the distance.
www.digilibraries.com. 33. Thomas Gainsborough: Major John Dade, of
Tannington, Suffolk c.1755. Yale Center for
17. Frans Hals: Isaak Abraham Massa and Beatreix
British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
van der Lean c.1622. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
vi List of Illustrations, Sources and Credits
34. H. F. James: View of William Shenstone’ Leasowes 52. Thomas Cole: River in the Catskills c.1843.
and Priory. British Library Board K.Toppxxxv1 © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (July 2015).
21.3b. 53. Frederic Church: West Rock, New Haven,
35. Leasowes: Virgil’s Grove. R. W. Boodle, Connecticut. c.1849. New Britain Museum of
Worcestershire Scrapbook, Vol. II (1903). American Art. Tetraktys
Revolutiuonary players. 54. Birkenhead Park. The Swiss Bridge where
36. Thomas Gainsborough: A Landscape with Olmsted is said to have sheltered from the rain.
a Woodcutter courting a Milkmaid c.1755. © Sue Adair
Reproduced by kind permission of His Grace 55. Central Park, New York c.1980–2006. Library
the Duke of Bedford and the Trustees of the of Congress Prints and Photographic Division.
Bedford Estates
56. Autumn in Central Park. Magnus Manske.
37. The landscape of Cambo.
57. Central Park: the Sheep meadow at the heart
© www.northofthetyne.co.uk
of the park, c.1900. Library of Congress Prints
38. Blenheim Palace today. Boddah and Photographic Division.
39. Richard Wilson: Tabley House, Cheshire c.1765. 58. Widnes in the late nineteenth century. Hardie,
Private Collection. D. W. F., A History of the Chemical Industry
40. William Gilpin: picturesque composition. in Widnes. Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd,
www.thlandscapedesign.blogspot.com. 1950.
41. B. T. Pouncy after T. Hearn, engravings c.1794 59. The Red House, Bexleyheath, designed by
from R. Payne Knight, The Landscape: A Didactic Philip Webb. Velela
Poem. Publ. W. Bulmer 1795. Republ. 1972 by 60. Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire. Boerkevitz
Gregg International Publisher Ltd, Farnborough.
61. Wallpaper Sample Book 1. William Morris and
42. William Combe/Thomas Rowlandson: The Company. Brooklyn Museum.
Tours of Dr Syntax in Search of The Picturesque
62. William Morris: The frontispiece to News from
c.1809. Author’s photograph.
Nowhere depicting Kelmscott Manor c.1893.
43. Grasmere: Dove Cottage from the garden.
63. Letchworth Garden City: smallholders cottage.
Author’s photograph.
www.cashewnut.me.uk.
44. Constable: Dedham Vale c.1802.
64. Letchworth Garden City; the agricultural belt.
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
www.cashewnut.me.uk.
45. Constable: Various Subjects of Landscape,
65. Letchworth Garden City: Norton Common.
Characteristics of English Scenery (‘English
© Copyright Robin Hall.
Landscape’), Summer Morning.
66. London Underground poster c.1910. © TfL
© Tate, London 2014.
from the London Transport Museum collection.
46. Constable: Full scale study for The Hay Wain
c.1821. © Victoria and Albert Museum, 67. Myles Birket Foster: a book illustration for
SABBATH WALKS. © Look and Learn.
London.
68. A view of the Shropshire Clees from Worms
47. Monticello. S. Buckley.
Ash, or Housman Hill, Bromsgrove.
48. Walden Pond: Thoreau’s Cove c.1908. Library
Author’s photograph.
of Congress Prints and Photographic Division.
69. Paul Nash: The Menin Road c.1919. Imperial
49. George Inness: The Lackawanna Valley c.1855.
War Museum IWM (AR]rt.IWM ART 2242.
Courtesy National gallery of Art Washington.
70. Hooge Crater Cemetery, Belgium.
50. The Yosemite National Park.
ww1battlefields.co.uk/NELS.
Author’s photograph.
71. Nicolas Poussin: Et in Arcadia Ego c.1637–8
51. Thomas Cole: View on the Catskill: Early
modified. source Van Dyke, J. C., A Text-book
Autumn c.1837. Metropolitan Museum of Art,
of the History of Painting. 2006.
New York. www.metmuseum.org
List of Illustrations, Sources and Credits vii
72. Pieter Mondriaan: East Zuider Sea windmill by 96. The former Ordnance factory, Risley.
moonlight c.1903. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Warrington New Town Development
www.c.RasMarle. Corporation.
73. The Amsterdam Forest. Shirley de Jong. 97. The English pastoral landscape.
74. Palladio: Villa Rotunda, near Vicenza. www. Author’s photograph.
travelbefore.it/953/veneto-Surroundings 98. Warrington New Town, Oakwood.
75. Le Corbusier: the Villa Savoie c.1929. Author’s photograph.
Valueyou. 99. Agnes Denes: Wheatfield – a confrontation,
76. Bentley Wood (Dell and Wainwright). Battery Park Landfill, New York c.1982.
www.gardenvisit.com. © Agnes Denes.
77. A CHA holiday group. York CHA & HF 100. Crissy Fields, San Francisco: the restored tidal
Rambling Club, image courtesy of HF marsh. Hargreaves Associates.
Holidays. 101. The London Olympic Park: one of the Swales.
78. Glossop, Doctors Gate. Author’s photograph. © Neil Mattinson.
79. Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Authors photograph.
Figures
80. Peacehaven: Cripps Avenue. © Frank H. Parks.
1. Regions of ancient Greece: Arkadia in the
81. Peacehaven: Sea View. © Frank H. Parks.
Peloponissos region. Marsayas.
82. Derek Jarman’s cottage at Dungeness.
2. The Villa Urbana. www.mariamilani.com.
Author’s photograph.
ancient-rome/ancient-roman-villa.htm.
83. London County Council housing c.1960.
3. Plan of the Villa Mondragone by Matteo
Author’s photograph.
Greuter c.1620. Oxxo.
84. The Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam c.1976.
4. Cornelis Athonisz: Bird’s eye view of Amsterdam
Author’s photograph.
c.1544 (woodcut). Ronald.
85. Corbusier: The Villa Radieuse from Le Corbusier,
5. Robert Castell: reconstructed plan of a Roman
The Radiant City. The Orion Press, 1967.
villa from The Villas of the Ancients c.1728.
86. Amsterdam, Bijlmermeer: the play meadow
6. Plan of Rousham. www.designforwalking.com/
c.1976. Author’s photograph.
files/refuges_at-Rousham.map_400j.
87. Amsterdam, Bijlmermeer: a more natural waters
7. Monticello Garden restored by Garden Club of
edge c.1978. Author’s photograph.
Virginia 1939.
88. Thijsse’s Hof Bloemendaal c.1985.
8. Birkenhead Park. The American Cyclopaedia
Author’s photograph.
v.13 1879, 103.
89. Kennedylaan, Heerenveen c.1975 informal
9. New York: Olmsted’s plan for Central Park
plant identification. Author’s photograph.
c.1875. Oscar Hinrichs.
90. Kennedylaan, Heerenveen c.1985.
10. Frederick Law Olmsted: Plan for Riverside.
Author’s photograph.
www.olmstedsociety.org.
91. Delft: The unplanned play of children.
11. Howard: Garden cities of tomorrow: the three
Author’s photograph.
magnets. www.2.bp.blogspot.com.
92. Delft: Gillis estate c.1975. Author’s photograph.
12. Howard: Garden cities of tomorrow: the plan for
93. Delft: Gillis estate c.1984. Author’s photograph. a new town. www.library.conell.edu.
94. Gouda: Bloementaal c.1986. 13. Letchworth and its environs 1903.
Author’s photograph. www.cashewnut.me.uk.
95. Gouda: Bloementaal c.1986. A play meadow. 14. Parker and Unwin: plan for Letchworth Garden
Author’s photograph. City 1904. www.cashewnut.me.uk.
viii List of Illustrations, Sources and Credits
15. General extension plan for Amsterdam (1935). 23. Delft: Buitenhof. Author’s drawing from
www.palgrave.com/builtenvironment. Holland: the ecological landscapes.
16. Plan of the Amsterdam Bos. 24. Delft: The Gilles estate. Author’s drawing from
17. Plan of Bentley Wood (Tom Turner). Holland: the ecological landscapes.
www.gardenvisit.com. 25. Warrington New Town: linked woodland belts
18. National Parks in England and Wales. and surrounding parks. Robert Tregay, R. and
Gustavsson, R., Oakwood’s New Landscape,
19. Amsterdam, The Bijlmermeer c.1980.
Alnarp, Sweden.
www.skyscrapercity.com.
26. The ecosystem.
20. Amsterdam, The Bijlmermeer: internal
courtyard zoning. 27. The pattern of environmental ideologies.
21. Le Roy’s visionary plan for the city. Author’s 28. Characteristics of conventional and ecological
drawing in Holland: the ecological landscapes. design.
LeRoy Natuur uitschakelen; natuur inschakelen.
22. Le Roy: The Kennedylaan. Author’s drawing in
Holland: the ecological landscapes; source LeRoy
Natuur uitschakelen; natuur inschakelen.
preface
Arcadia and the Pastoral Landscape
This book is about Arcadia and the Pastoral tradition; what it has meant
for successive generations and their vision of the landscape, as well as the
implications this has had for its design and management. But, at the outset
there needs to be a word of explanation as to why a landscape architect who
is neither an art historian nor a classical scholar, should have felt the need to
write this book.
Like many mentioned on the following pages I spent my most formative
years roaming the fields and woods, in my case near Bedford learning the
common names of wild flowers before I could read or write. My career as a
gardener was never in question, only its direction. This was determined during
my time as a student at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. One afternoon,
when standing under a Zelkova tree, I was given a slim volume of selected
writings by Henry Thoreau, a person completely unknown to me at the time. I
was drawn immediately to an extract entitled On Beauty in which Thoreau asks
“what are the natural features that make a township beautiful”. In his opinion “a
river, with its waterfalls and meadows, a lake, a hill, a cliff, or individual rocks, a
forest and ancient trees standing singly were beautiful”. Looking at Edinburgh,
with the wild landscape of Arthur’s Seat brooding over the city, and the Waters
of Leith threading its way though the Georgian New Town, it was possible to
see the wisdom of Thoreau’s words. But looking at more recent developments in
the city’s suburbs, it was obvious that the natural features had been neglected.
Throughout the western world the post-war development of towns and cities
had seen the landscape become no more than endless acres of close mown grass
dotted with flowering cherry trees, and decorated with interludes of colourful
annuals and shrubs. The very reverse of Thoreau’s belief that ornamental beauty
should “be like the lining of a shell, inward looking and essential of which the
inhabitant is unconscious and not mere garnishing”. Thoreau’s words helped
direct me towards landscape architecture and to academic research as the most
obvious way to bring about changes in the urban landscape. To that end I spent
a large part of my career at Manchester University, England, participating in the
development of an ecological approach to landscape design, involving the use of
native plants to create a nature-like landscapes for people’s use and enjoyment,
what was described as ‘nature on the doorstep’.