DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0379
35o
History of Garden Art
last link in our Italian history. For Germans the very name of it has an intimate sound,
because it was Winckelmann who advised Cardinal Albani, the founder of the villa.
Though Winckelmann may have had little to do with the form of the garden, yet the
classical feeling lived in him and because of him had its effect in all the many parts
of this whole. The cardinal followed Roman tradition in that he considered house and
garden first and foremost as frames for his antique art-treasures. So Villa Albani stands
in the series of villas, Medici, Mattei, and Casino Borghese, as the last of all to flower.
The garden has the double axis form, suiting the two entrance gates. Of these the
Entrata nobile on the Via Salaria leads first to the thicket at the side of the casino, which
perhaps has felt the influence of the star formation of Villa Ludovisi and other prede-
cessors, and the points of the star are marked by statues (Fig. 277). The main avenue
leads first, from a granite pillar with the family arms above, to a pair of steps that mount
to a higher terrace. This terrace is simply laid out with stretches of grass and fountains,
whence one proceeds on a stairway to the chief parterre lower down, and this in turn is
shut off by a hedge on the far side from an orangery, where the view comes to an end
with a beautiful fountain. In former days one saw a grand prospect over the Campagna
to the blue boundary of the Sabine hills, but now the roving glance sees merely what it
would avoid—a mass of lodging-houses close at hand. The second main axis goes through
the casino, which with spreading pillared halls stands high above the great ornamental par-
terre (Fig. 278). One goes down by steps, finding the beds, with arabesque designs in
box, arranged in the style of the day, connected together by the eagle fountains in the
central axis, and round them oranges in coloured pots, just as they were to be seen in
the earliest gardens (Fig. 279). A semicircular portico, reminiscent of the theatre at
Frascati, stands at the end, with a couple of rooms in it, and this corresponds with the
pure classical style of the house in simplicity and distinction. The third and lowest of
the terraces lies behind the portico called the coffee-house.
In this part, which leads along a canal to a second entrance gate, we clearly see the
suggestion of the rococo style of garden that is coming hither from the North. Later on
this place has to be considered again, as it falls out of line with the ornamental garden
proper. The cardinal ornamented it with the most exquisite works of art, which had for
the most part been collected for him by Winckelmann. Even to this day we find here and
there a Hermes or a bust set up on its tall plinth; and there are statues also standing
among the green hedges, which are still clipped even now (Fig. 280). The most conspicuous
of the antiques were kept in the palace itself, in the coffee-house, or in the so-called
bigliardo—really a small casino near the side of the house, built upon a terrace on the
same level behind a group of oaks, where at the present time a bust of Winckelmann
is set up. Like the pergola with its water basin (Fig. 281) all these places are of a dignified
plainness and simplicity.
The villa is a work of art which has remained faithful to the ideas that belong to its
own nationality, and has preserved the Roman character at a period when the new French
spirit had already wrought destruction on many noble works—and that even on Italian
soil. It seems as though the art of the past, which took into its service two such men as
Cardinal Albani and Winckelmann, has been able to encase itself in some protective shell,
garment, or frame, whereby it rests immune from every infection of unworthy trifling
or baroque excesses, even in the most insignificant details.
History of Garden Art
last link in our Italian history. For Germans the very name of it has an intimate sound,
because it was Winckelmann who advised Cardinal Albani, the founder of the villa.
Though Winckelmann may have had little to do with the form of the garden, yet the
classical feeling lived in him and because of him had its effect in all the many parts
of this whole. The cardinal followed Roman tradition in that he considered house and
garden first and foremost as frames for his antique art-treasures. So Villa Albani stands
in the series of villas, Medici, Mattei, and Casino Borghese, as the last of all to flower.
The garden has the double axis form, suiting the two entrance gates. Of these the
Entrata nobile on the Via Salaria leads first to the thicket at the side of the casino, which
perhaps has felt the influence of the star formation of Villa Ludovisi and other prede-
cessors, and the points of the star are marked by statues (Fig. 277). The main avenue
leads first, from a granite pillar with the family arms above, to a pair of steps that mount
to a higher terrace. This terrace is simply laid out with stretches of grass and fountains,
whence one proceeds on a stairway to the chief parterre lower down, and this in turn is
shut off by a hedge on the far side from an orangery, where the view comes to an end
with a beautiful fountain. In former days one saw a grand prospect over the Campagna
to the blue boundary of the Sabine hills, but now the roving glance sees merely what it
would avoid—a mass of lodging-houses close at hand. The second main axis goes through
the casino, which with spreading pillared halls stands high above the great ornamental par-
terre (Fig. 278). One goes down by steps, finding the beds, with arabesque designs in
box, arranged in the style of the day, connected together by the eagle fountains in the
central axis, and round them oranges in coloured pots, just as they were to be seen in
the earliest gardens (Fig. 279). A semicircular portico, reminiscent of the theatre at
Frascati, stands at the end, with a couple of rooms in it, and this corresponds with the
pure classical style of the house in simplicity and distinction. The third and lowest of
the terraces lies behind the portico called the coffee-house.
In this part, which leads along a canal to a second entrance gate, we clearly see the
suggestion of the rococo style of garden that is coming hither from the North. Later on
this place has to be considered again, as it falls out of line with the ornamental garden
proper. The cardinal ornamented it with the most exquisite works of art, which had for
the most part been collected for him by Winckelmann. Even to this day we find here and
there a Hermes or a bust set up on its tall plinth; and there are statues also standing
among the green hedges, which are still clipped even now (Fig. 280). The most conspicuous
of the antiques were kept in the palace itself, in the coffee-house, or in the so-called
bigliardo—really a small casino near the side of the house, built upon a terrace on the
same level behind a group of oaks, where at the present time a bust of Winckelmann
is set up. Like the pergola with its water basin (Fig. 281) all these places are of a dignified
plainness and simplicity.
The villa is a work of art which has remained faithful to the ideas that belong to its
own nationality, and has preserved the Roman character at a period when the new French
spirit had already wrought destruction on many noble works—and that even on Italian
soil. It seems as though the art of the past, which took into its service two such men as
Cardinal Albani and Winckelmann, has been able to encase itself in some protective shell,
garment, or frame, whereby it rests immune from every infection of unworthy trifling
or baroque excesses, even in the most insignificant details.