DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Świtek, Gabriela: Ut pictura hortus. Przejawy kultury estetycznej w sztuce ogrodowej XVIII wieku
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49349#0310
300
Gabriela Świtek
instructing the visitor how to walk through the
garden in order to get the best view of the
constructed tableaux. The description contained an
overall plan of the garden with 'view points' marked
with capital letters and plates representing different
scenes with numbers corresponding to the 'view
points'. The instructive character of the description
was intentional since Carmontelle emphasised the
importance of the 'science' of looking at nature; a
kind of art which had been neglected, but which
could be taught in a similar manner as the art of
speaking, dancing, or singing.
The garden at Monceau contained almost all the
thematic motifs which would be present in the fully
developed picturesque gardens of the late 1780s and
1790s. The fabriques in the garden can be grouped
in different scenes, or - as Carmontelle calls it -
'views' or tableaux, which were to represent
different parts of the world. Consequently, one finds
'rustic' scenes such as the view of the water mili, the
Dutch mili, the farm or the Island of Sheep; 'antique'
scenes (the Ruins of the Tempie of Mars, the
Naumachia, or the monopteros of white marble) and
'oriental' scenes (the Minaret, the Tartar and Turkish
tents, the Chinese bridge and jeu de bague). The
variety of fabriques indicates the complex process
of the migration of styles; their design was inspired
by travel literature, archaeological and antiquarian
publications, available in the course of 18th century.
What makes Monceau such an intrinsic project is
Carmontelle's intention, which he clearly expressed
in his description, to create the garden as a 'land of
illusion' where the different tableaux and fabriques
were to epitomise the essential characteristics of
different climates, landscapes and architecture.
Carmontelle's project was directed against
Rousseaunian interpretations of the picturesque
garden; he did not wish to create a monotonousjardin
de penseurs that would pay too great attention to
nature and too little to imagination and artifice. He
considered that for the French the pleasures of rural
life consisted of pure air, freedom and amusement,
such as hunting, games, concerts and spectacles.
Although philosophical conversations would not be
banished, austerity was to be avoided; after all, instead
of dreaming alone, the French were felt to be a people
who sought company for conversation. The garden
should allow visitors to appreciate to the full natural
and rural life; however, it should not be turned into a
farm. Carmontelle's attempt to create an illusion of
1. Map of the gardens at Monceau. Repr. after
Carmontelle (Louis Carrogis), Jardin de Monceau.
Paris 1779, pl. I, Prints Room, Warsaw University
Library collections
2. Map of the gardens at Monceau. Main pavilion.
the world was not to evoke the primary meaning of
the garden as a prelude to heavenly space, but to
create a pleasant environment that would astonish the
viewer with the diversity of forms, allowing him to
experience a picturesque voyage in miniature.
The realisation of the Monceau garden coincides
with the publication of Carmontelle's Thedtre de
campagne, a collection of short plays where he puts
forward a concept of entertainment at country estates
as a 'model' for life, a 'play that can become a habit'.
The mingling of garden and theatre imagery is explicit
in one of the scenes in the Monceau project, the Wood
of Tombs, which might have been influenced by the
famous illusionistic spectacles of Jean-Nicolas
Servandoni. Moreover, the theatricality of Monceau
is evident in the concept of a walk around the garden
originally planned by the architect. According to
Carmontelle's postulate to 'introduce into our gardens
the shifting scenes of the opera', the spatial
arrangement of Monceau can be read as a sequence of
tableaux vivants, animated by the presence of
spectators as actors on the stage.
The Monceau garden is a 'picture' built upon the
great projects and paradigms characteristic of 18th-
century culture. According to Carmontelle's own
intention the walk around the garden was to be an
adventure of an aesthete who is confronted with a
sequence of scrupulously composed tableaux.
Experiencing such a garden might thus be compared
to a Grand Tour, a visit to the museum, or scanning
the pages of an encyclopaedia.
The emergence of the picturesque garden has to
be seen as part of an event of fundamenta! importance
to the modern age: the conquest of the world as
picture, where the term 'picture' means a structured
image [Gebild]; namely the 'creature of man's
producing which represents and sets before'. As
Heidegger notes, through 'producing', man contends
for the position in which he can be that particular
being who gives the measure and draws up the
guidelines for everything that is. 'World picture' is
meant as the world conceived and grasped as a
picture. Thus, it is not an accident that in the modern
age, when the world becomes such a picture, we are
confronted with the picturesque as a mode of
representation which emphasises the creation of
'credible illusions'. As Diderot addressed a postulate
to his favourite painters of ruins: 'Travel to the ends
of the earth, but make it so that I always know where
you are.'
Naumachia [Vue du Cirque ou de la Naumachie]
after Carmontelle, Jardin de Monceau. Paris 1779,
view K, pl. XI. Section through the winter garden as
designed by Thomas Blaikie, ca. 1780. Repr. after
George Louis Le Rouge, Details des nouveaux jardins
Gabriela Świtek
instructing the visitor how to walk through the
garden in order to get the best view of the
constructed tableaux. The description contained an
overall plan of the garden with 'view points' marked
with capital letters and plates representing different
scenes with numbers corresponding to the 'view
points'. The instructive character of the description
was intentional since Carmontelle emphasised the
importance of the 'science' of looking at nature; a
kind of art which had been neglected, but which
could be taught in a similar manner as the art of
speaking, dancing, or singing.
The garden at Monceau contained almost all the
thematic motifs which would be present in the fully
developed picturesque gardens of the late 1780s and
1790s. The fabriques in the garden can be grouped
in different scenes, or - as Carmontelle calls it -
'views' or tableaux, which were to represent
different parts of the world. Consequently, one finds
'rustic' scenes such as the view of the water mili, the
Dutch mili, the farm or the Island of Sheep; 'antique'
scenes (the Ruins of the Tempie of Mars, the
Naumachia, or the monopteros of white marble) and
'oriental' scenes (the Minaret, the Tartar and Turkish
tents, the Chinese bridge and jeu de bague). The
variety of fabriques indicates the complex process
of the migration of styles; their design was inspired
by travel literature, archaeological and antiquarian
publications, available in the course of 18th century.
What makes Monceau such an intrinsic project is
Carmontelle's intention, which he clearly expressed
in his description, to create the garden as a 'land of
illusion' where the different tableaux and fabriques
were to epitomise the essential characteristics of
different climates, landscapes and architecture.
Carmontelle's project was directed against
Rousseaunian interpretations of the picturesque
garden; he did not wish to create a monotonousjardin
de penseurs that would pay too great attention to
nature and too little to imagination and artifice. He
considered that for the French the pleasures of rural
life consisted of pure air, freedom and amusement,
such as hunting, games, concerts and spectacles.
Although philosophical conversations would not be
banished, austerity was to be avoided; after all, instead
of dreaming alone, the French were felt to be a people
who sought company for conversation. The garden
should allow visitors to appreciate to the full natural
and rural life; however, it should not be turned into a
farm. Carmontelle's attempt to create an illusion of
1. Map of the gardens at Monceau. Repr. after
Carmontelle (Louis Carrogis), Jardin de Monceau.
Paris 1779, pl. I, Prints Room, Warsaw University
Library collections
2. Map of the gardens at Monceau. Main pavilion.
the world was not to evoke the primary meaning of
the garden as a prelude to heavenly space, but to
create a pleasant environment that would astonish the
viewer with the diversity of forms, allowing him to
experience a picturesque voyage in miniature.
The realisation of the Monceau garden coincides
with the publication of Carmontelle's Thedtre de
campagne, a collection of short plays where he puts
forward a concept of entertainment at country estates
as a 'model' for life, a 'play that can become a habit'.
The mingling of garden and theatre imagery is explicit
in one of the scenes in the Monceau project, the Wood
of Tombs, which might have been influenced by the
famous illusionistic spectacles of Jean-Nicolas
Servandoni. Moreover, the theatricality of Monceau
is evident in the concept of a walk around the garden
originally planned by the architect. According to
Carmontelle's postulate to 'introduce into our gardens
the shifting scenes of the opera', the spatial
arrangement of Monceau can be read as a sequence of
tableaux vivants, animated by the presence of
spectators as actors on the stage.
The Monceau garden is a 'picture' built upon the
great projects and paradigms characteristic of 18th-
century culture. According to Carmontelle's own
intention the walk around the garden was to be an
adventure of an aesthete who is confronted with a
sequence of scrupulously composed tableaux.
Experiencing such a garden might thus be compared
to a Grand Tour, a visit to the museum, or scanning
the pages of an encyclopaedia.
The emergence of the picturesque garden has to
be seen as part of an event of fundamenta! importance
to the modern age: the conquest of the world as
picture, where the term 'picture' means a structured
image [Gebild]; namely the 'creature of man's
producing which represents and sets before'. As
Heidegger notes, through 'producing', man contends
for the position in which he can be that particular
being who gives the measure and draws up the
guidelines for everything that is. 'World picture' is
meant as the world conceived and grasped as a
picture. Thus, it is not an accident that in the modern
age, when the world becomes such a picture, we are
confronted with the picturesque as a mode of
representation which emphasises the creation of
'credible illusions'. As Diderot addressed a postulate
to his favourite painters of ruins: 'Travel to the ends
of the earth, but make it so that I always know where
you are.'
Naumachia [Vue du Cirque ou de la Naumachie]
after Carmontelle, Jardin de Monceau. Paris 1779,
view K, pl. XI. Section through the winter garden as
designed by Thomas Blaikie, ca. 1780. Repr. after
George Louis Le Rouge, Details des nouveaux jardins