DOI Artikel:
Azzi Visentini, Margherita: Around the historiography of Italian gardens: Georgina Masson's contribution; [Rezension]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14576#0035
AROUND THE IIISTORIOGRAPIIY OF ITALIAN GARDENS: GEORGINA MASSON'S CONTRIBUTION
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3. Cascina at Villa Farnese at Caprarola
rounding landscape". Platt noted that the most striking element was "the design as a whole, including gar-
dens, terraces, graves, and their necessary surroundings and embellishments, it being elear that no one of
thèse component parts was ever considered independently, the architect of the house being also the architect
of the garden and the rest of the villa"6.
Uninterested in the history and meaning of the works (he ignored both ancient and récent literaturę on
the subject, citing only the book by Percier and Fontaine, albeit criticizing them for the disparity between
the published plates and the actual condition of the buildings and gardens), he was instead fascinated by the
current condition of the gardens, so full of plants and flowers that "[t]he impression [...] is one of great tan-
gle, and of a profusion of growing things", and by their layout. Describing the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati,
he wrote that "[t]he arrangement of the terraces at the back and front of the house is very remarkable, and
admirably adapted to the formation of the land", noting that "[t]he most interesting feature of this villa is the
manner in which the hill at the back of the house has been eut out and formed into an architectural semi-
circle with fountains", although "[t]he actual architecture of the moment is very bad, the niches and grottoes
being filled with colossal and grotesque figures". Platt evidently did not understand the true historical and
artistic significance of the extraordinary invention of the teatro d"aequo. Designed by Giacomo délia Porta
and completed after his death by Giovanni Fontana and Orazio Olivieri, the water théâtre was a fundamen-
tal part of both the iconographie programme and the architectural project of the complex. Tuckermann was
of a far différent opinion, considering the water théâtre a "fantastic Baroque architecture". With regard to
the villas of Frascati, Tuckermann also noted that "there is a surprising number of new and previously
unknown tasks that the architect and sculptor must handle in the architecture and sculptural décoration of
thèse villas, whose most significant and distinctive element is the perfection achieved with waterworks, whose
beauty consists of the contrast between the power of nature harnessed by art, and végétation, trees, oaks and
chestnuts, which are allowed to grow freely"7.
6 C.A. Platt, Formai Gardening in Italy, "Harper's New Monthly Magazine" 87 ( 1893), p. 518; C.A. Platt, Italian Gardens,
New York 1894, reprint, with an overview by K.N. M о r g a n and additional plates by C.A. Platt, London 1993, pp. 15-16. Re-
garding the critical success of the Italian garden in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, see: A z z i V i s e n t i n i. The
Italian Garden..., pp. 240-265; e a d e m, La fortuna del giardino..., pp. 21-46.
7 Platt, Italian Gardens..., p. 59; W.P Tuckermann, Die Gartenkunst der italienischen Renaissance-Zeit, Berlin 1884,
pp. 121, 124.
29
3. Cascina at Villa Farnese at Caprarola
rounding landscape". Platt noted that the most striking element was "the design as a whole, including gar-
dens, terraces, graves, and their necessary surroundings and embellishments, it being elear that no one of
thèse component parts was ever considered independently, the architect of the house being also the architect
of the garden and the rest of the villa"6.
Uninterested in the history and meaning of the works (he ignored both ancient and récent literaturę on
the subject, citing only the book by Percier and Fontaine, albeit criticizing them for the disparity between
the published plates and the actual condition of the buildings and gardens), he was instead fascinated by the
current condition of the gardens, so full of plants and flowers that "[t]he impression [...] is one of great tan-
gle, and of a profusion of growing things", and by their layout. Describing the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati,
he wrote that "[t]he arrangement of the terraces at the back and front of the house is very remarkable, and
admirably adapted to the formation of the land", noting that "[t]he most interesting feature of this villa is the
manner in which the hill at the back of the house has been eut out and formed into an architectural semi-
circle with fountains", although "[t]he actual architecture of the moment is very bad, the niches and grottoes
being filled with colossal and grotesque figures". Platt evidently did not understand the true historical and
artistic significance of the extraordinary invention of the teatro d"aequo. Designed by Giacomo délia Porta
and completed after his death by Giovanni Fontana and Orazio Olivieri, the water théâtre was a fundamen-
tal part of both the iconographie programme and the architectural project of the complex. Tuckermann was
of a far différent opinion, considering the water théâtre a "fantastic Baroque architecture". With regard to
the villas of Frascati, Tuckermann also noted that "there is a surprising number of new and previously
unknown tasks that the architect and sculptor must handle in the architecture and sculptural décoration of
thèse villas, whose most significant and distinctive element is the perfection achieved with waterworks, whose
beauty consists of the contrast between the power of nature harnessed by art, and végétation, trees, oaks and
chestnuts, which are allowed to grow freely"7.
6 C.A. Platt, Formai Gardening in Italy, "Harper's New Monthly Magazine" 87 ( 1893), p. 518; C.A. Platt, Italian Gardens,
New York 1894, reprint, with an overview by K.N. M о r g a n and additional plates by C.A. Platt, London 1993, pp. 15-16. Re-
garding the critical success of the Italian garden in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, see: A z z i V i s e n t i n i. The
Italian Garden..., pp. 240-265; e a d e m, La fortuna del giardino..., pp. 21-46.
7 Platt, Italian Gardens..., p. 59; W.P Tuckermann, Die Gartenkunst der italienischen Renaissance-Zeit, Berlin 1884,
pp. 121, 124.