DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19489#0012
X THE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND
doubt great, but that does not make him an
artist, and by no possible wresting of the
term can he be called so on this ground only.
Mr. Robinson seems to think that knowledge
(whether it is artistic or not) and art are the
same thing. On p. 68, Garden Design, he in-
dulges in an irrelevant sarcasm on the idea that
"the work of the late James Backhouse, who
knew every flower on the hills of Northern
England, is not art," but "cutting a tree into
the shape of a cocked hat is art." Whether
the cocked hat business is art is a separate
question, but the work of the late James Back-
house might be an encyclopedia of botanical
knowledge and yet the late James Backhouse
be just as far off being an artist as ever. That
eminent landscape gardener Mr. Milner has with
greater boldness attempted a definition of his
art, which is discussed in the first chapter of this
book.
However, on p. 38, Garden Design, there is
some very fine writing about " all other true art,"
showing how all the great painters use selec-
tion in their compositions, and how "they work
always from faithful study of nature, and from
stores of knowledge gathered from nature study,
and that is the only true -path for the landscape
gardener; as all true and great art can only be
doubt great, but that does not make him an
artist, and by no possible wresting of the
term can he be called so on this ground only.
Mr. Robinson seems to think that knowledge
(whether it is artistic or not) and art are the
same thing. On p. 68, Garden Design, he in-
dulges in an irrelevant sarcasm on the idea that
"the work of the late James Backhouse, who
knew every flower on the hills of Northern
England, is not art," but "cutting a tree into
the shape of a cocked hat is art." Whether
the cocked hat business is art is a separate
question, but the work of the late James Back-
house might be an encyclopedia of botanical
knowledge and yet the late James Backhouse
be just as far off being an artist as ever. That
eminent landscape gardener Mr. Milner has with
greater boldness attempted a definition of his
art, which is discussed in the first chapter of this
book.
However, on p. 38, Garden Design, there is
some very fine writing about " all other true art,"
showing how all the great painters use selec-
tion in their compositions, and how "they work
always from faithful study of nature, and from
stores of knowledge gathered from nature study,
and that is the only true -path for the landscape
gardener; as all true and great art can only be