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#0037
AROUND THE HISTORKXiRAPHY OF ITALIAN GARDENS: GEORGINA MASSONS CONTRIBUTION
31
4. Sculptures at Bomarzo
Falda, Venturini, Barrière and others had been supplemented in the 19th century not only by the plates pub-
lished by Percier and Fontaine, but also by several important collections of surveys of monuments - includ-
ing villas and gardens - in Rome and Genoa, drawn up respectively by Paul-Marie Letarouilly, a pupil of
Percier and Fontaine, and Martin-Pierre Gauthier". Thus, Triggs returned to this subject and in The Art of
Garden Design in Italy, published in 1906, he examined about 30 villas, illustrating his descriptions with
numerous lovely photographs, most of which taken by Aubrey Le Blond specifically for the book, period
drawings and views, paintings and engravings. They were complemented by plans, some of which specially
drawn up by the author, while others were taken from previous works. Indeed, Triggs noted that "gardens
can hardly be judged by pictures and photographs alone, and it is essential that thèse should be supplemented
by a survey drawn to scale; it is hardly possible to form a correct judgment unless the two are consulted
together, and without the information which a plan gives it is difficult to grasp the conditions under which
the designer worked"12.
Marie Louise Gothein made excellent use of this materiał and in her brilliant overview of the history
of gardens, which took her ten years to write and whose first édition was published in 1914, she devoted
a detailed chapter to the Italian garden of the Renaissance and Baroque periods in central Italy, particularly
in Rome and Lazio. Reiterating Tuckermann, she acknowledged that it originated with the Cortile del Bel-
védère and the Villa Madama, whose style was anticipated in the Medici villas of the 15th century, from
Careggi to Poggio a Caiano, and whose epigone was the Roman Villa Albani. However, she did not overlook
examples from northern Italy, from the Palazzo Doria in Genoa to the Villa Brenzone at San Vigilio, on Lake
11 RM. Letarouilly, Les Edifices de Rome Moderne, Liège 1849; RM. Gauthier, Les plus beaux édifices de la ville de
Gêne et de ses envions, 2 vols., Paris 1818-1832; see also G. S t e r n, Fiante, elevazioni e spaccati degli edifici délia Villa di Giulio
III, Rome 1784; Recueil ddrchitecture dessiné et mesuré en Italie dans les années 1791, 92 et 93, Paris 1821.
12 H.I. T r i g g s, The Art of Garden Design in Italy, London - New York - Bombay 1906 (reprinted by Schiffer Publishing,
Atglen, PA, USA, 2007), Préface, p. V. The book on the gardens of Italian villas followed the work by this author on formai gardens
in Great Britain: H.I. Triggs, Formai Gardens in England and Scotland, London 1902.
31
4. Sculptures at Bomarzo
Falda, Venturini, Barrière and others had been supplemented in the 19th century not only by the plates pub-
lished by Percier and Fontaine, but also by several important collections of surveys of monuments - includ-
ing villas and gardens - in Rome and Genoa, drawn up respectively by Paul-Marie Letarouilly, a pupil of
Percier and Fontaine, and Martin-Pierre Gauthier". Thus, Triggs returned to this subject and in The Art of
Garden Design in Italy, published in 1906, he examined about 30 villas, illustrating his descriptions with
numerous lovely photographs, most of which taken by Aubrey Le Blond specifically for the book, period
drawings and views, paintings and engravings. They were complemented by plans, some of which specially
drawn up by the author, while others were taken from previous works. Indeed, Triggs noted that "gardens
can hardly be judged by pictures and photographs alone, and it is essential that thèse should be supplemented
by a survey drawn to scale; it is hardly possible to form a correct judgment unless the two are consulted
together, and without the information which a plan gives it is difficult to grasp the conditions under which
the designer worked"12.
Marie Louise Gothein made excellent use of this materiał and in her brilliant overview of the history
of gardens, which took her ten years to write and whose first édition was published in 1914, she devoted
a detailed chapter to the Italian garden of the Renaissance and Baroque periods in central Italy, particularly
in Rome and Lazio. Reiterating Tuckermann, she acknowledged that it originated with the Cortile del Bel-
védère and the Villa Madama, whose style was anticipated in the Medici villas of the 15th century, from
Careggi to Poggio a Caiano, and whose epigone was the Roman Villa Albani. However, she did not overlook
examples from northern Italy, from the Palazzo Doria in Genoa to the Villa Brenzone at San Vigilio, on Lake
11 RM. Letarouilly, Les Edifices de Rome Moderne, Liège 1849; RM. Gauthier, Les plus beaux édifices de la ville de
Gêne et de ses envions, 2 vols., Paris 1818-1832; see also G. S t e r n, Fiante, elevazioni e spaccati degli edifici délia Villa di Giulio
III, Rome 1784; Recueil ddrchitecture dessiné et mesuré en Italie dans les années 1791, 92 et 93, Paris 1821.
12 H.I. T r i g g s, The Art of Garden Design in Italy, London - New York - Bombay 1906 (reprinted by Schiffer Publishing,
Atglen, PA, USA, 2007), Préface, p. V. The book on the gardens of Italian villas followed the work by this author on formai gardens
in Great Britain: H.I. Triggs, Formai Gardens in England and Scotland, London 1902.