DOI article:
Azzi Visentini, Margherita: Around the historiography of Italian gardens: Georgina Masson's contribution; [Rezension]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14576#0042
36
MARCjHERITA azzi visentini
tecture of the Veneto as well as other régions, and particularly the héritage représentée! by thèse villas. In the
meantime, in 1955 Italia Nostra, an association whose goal is to protect the historie, artistic and natural hér-
itage of the peninsula, was established in Rome.
At the same time, and despite the fact that academia continued to take a somewhat wary view of a field
that many considered fatuous, the subject of gardens was scientifically examined in chapters written by for-
eign and Italian scholars, including James Ackerman. His essay and book (published respectively in 1951
and 1954) discussed the Cortile del Belvédère as part of Bramante's project for the new Vatican of Julius П.
There was also renewed interest in the Monsters of Bomarzo, re-examined in 1953 by Mario Praz in an arti-
cle published in IUustrazione italiana. An entire issue of Quaderni dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Architettura
was devoted to Bomarzo in 1955, with essay s by Arnaldo Bruschi, Leonardo Benevolo, Paolo Portoghesi
and others; Maurizio Calvesi would return to this subject the following year. Bruschi discussed Bagnaia and
the Villa Lante in the same magazine in 1956, the year that Cari Franck published his séminal work Die
Barockvillen in Frascati, which for the first time considered the system of the 12 villas depicted in the view
of ancient Tusculum and its environs drawn and engraved by Matthaeus Greuter in 162022.
It was during thèse lively and stimulating years that Masson entered the scène, rather unobtrusively and
virtually unnoticed at first. Information about the author before her thirty-year sojourn in Italy is sketchy and
inaccurate. Georgina Masson was the pseudonym of Marion Johnson (although it is unclear if Johnson was
her maiden or married name) and it was based on the name of one of her grandmothers. Known to her friends
as Babs, she was a British citizen who was born in 1912 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, the daughter of an officer
in His Majesty's Army. Thanks to her father, she was able to attend the Royal School for the Daughters of
Officers of the Army in Bath, of which she would long have fond memories and where she earned her only
diploma. She lived in India, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, China, Malaysia, Congo, France, Switzerland and the
United States, evidently with her husband, a British officer from whom she later separated. After spending
some time in Paris, where she had a job in public relations (or, more probably, military espionage, although
information is vague), she moved to Rome around 1943. In the Italian capital, it seems that she was employed,
either directly or through her husband or partner, by the Foreign Office of the Fifth Army until approximately
1947. Vivacious, sophisticated, extroverted and at ease with everyone, it seems that Masson was promptly
accepted into the British intellectual circles in and around Rome (she also became a close friend of notable
figures such as Hugh Honour, Iris Origo, Archibald Lyall, Elena Croce and, naturally, Sue and Geoffrey Jel-
licoe, to whom she dedicated this book) as well as those of the Roman aristocracy, developing a keen inter-
est in the architecture of the résidences in which she was received.
It was thanks to her contacts and her obvious passion for villas and gardens that, starting in the late
1940s and for more than 20 years, she was given the chance to live in a cottage that was originally built to
be part of stables. The cottage was situated under the Palazzina Corsini, which was later incorporated into
the park of the Villa Doria Pamphili on the Gianicolo in Rome. It was offered to her by its owners - also
Masson's friends - for very Iow rent, and she transformed it into a cosy place to work and entertain friends.
On the land bounded by a small rocky basin next to the house, Masson created an intriguing garden that
boasted several rare botanical spécimens she had found during her strolls through the park, including Fritil-
laria obliqua (one of the bulbous plants introduced to Europe from Turkey before 1581 and that, thanks to
her, was also brought to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London), alongside native species such as ole-
anders and plants grown from the seeds of fruit she ate, such as the lush avocado grove. The outeome was
a one-of-a-kind ensemble that mirrored its creator's unique personality23.
22 Ackerman's article and book on the Cortile del Belvédère are more detailed examinations of the subject of his doctoral
dissertation (New York University), which was one of the first in the United States on the construction of outdoor space: J. Acker-
man, The Belvédère as a Classical Villa, „Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes" 16, 1951, pp. 325-360; idem, The
Cortile del Belvédère (1503-1585), Vatican City 1954; M. С a 1 v e s i, // Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo, [in:] Scritti di storia dell'arte in
onore di Lionello Ventnri, vol. 1, Rome 1956, pp. 369-402; A. С a n t o n i, La Villa Lante di Bagnaia, Milan 1961 ; C. Lam b, Die
Villa d'Esté in Tivoli, Munchen 1966; C. Franck, Die Barockvillen in Frascati /550-1750, Munchen-Berlin 1956.
23 It is a shame that even the memory of this eccentric and treasured garden, which was immortalized in several photographs
and was discussed by Marella Caracciolo (M. Caracciolo, The Secret Garden of Marion Johnson I II giardino segreto di
Marion Johnson", in A. С ар o d i f e r r o, C. L a u f (eds.), Georgina Masson 1912-1980. Sélection from the Photographie Archive
I Selezioni dall'Archivio Fotografico, Milan 2003), was lost when the acquisition of the entire Villa Pamphili complex by the Italian
government, a process commenced in 1958, went into effect in 1971. At that point, its management went to the State Property Of-
fice, which turned the area into a car park and dépôt. The most récent monograph about the villa does not even mention the English
MARCjHERITA azzi visentini
tecture of the Veneto as well as other régions, and particularly the héritage représentée! by thèse villas. In the
meantime, in 1955 Italia Nostra, an association whose goal is to protect the historie, artistic and natural hér-
itage of the peninsula, was established in Rome.
At the same time, and despite the fact that academia continued to take a somewhat wary view of a field
that many considered fatuous, the subject of gardens was scientifically examined in chapters written by for-
eign and Italian scholars, including James Ackerman. His essay and book (published respectively in 1951
and 1954) discussed the Cortile del Belvédère as part of Bramante's project for the new Vatican of Julius П.
There was also renewed interest in the Monsters of Bomarzo, re-examined in 1953 by Mario Praz in an arti-
cle published in IUustrazione italiana. An entire issue of Quaderni dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Architettura
was devoted to Bomarzo in 1955, with essay s by Arnaldo Bruschi, Leonardo Benevolo, Paolo Portoghesi
and others; Maurizio Calvesi would return to this subject the following year. Bruschi discussed Bagnaia and
the Villa Lante in the same magazine in 1956, the year that Cari Franck published his séminal work Die
Barockvillen in Frascati, which for the first time considered the system of the 12 villas depicted in the view
of ancient Tusculum and its environs drawn and engraved by Matthaeus Greuter in 162022.
It was during thèse lively and stimulating years that Masson entered the scène, rather unobtrusively and
virtually unnoticed at first. Information about the author before her thirty-year sojourn in Italy is sketchy and
inaccurate. Georgina Masson was the pseudonym of Marion Johnson (although it is unclear if Johnson was
her maiden or married name) and it was based on the name of one of her grandmothers. Known to her friends
as Babs, she was a British citizen who was born in 1912 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, the daughter of an officer
in His Majesty's Army. Thanks to her father, she was able to attend the Royal School for the Daughters of
Officers of the Army in Bath, of which she would long have fond memories and where she earned her only
diploma. She lived in India, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, China, Malaysia, Congo, France, Switzerland and the
United States, evidently with her husband, a British officer from whom she later separated. After spending
some time in Paris, where she had a job in public relations (or, more probably, military espionage, although
information is vague), she moved to Rome around 1943. In the Italian capital, it seems that she was employed,
either directly or through her husband or partner, by the Foreign Office of the Fifth Army until approximately
1947. Vivacious, sophisticated, extroverted and at ease with everyone, it seems that Masson was promptly
accepted into the British intellectual circles in and around Rome (she also became a close friend of notable
figures such as Hugh Honour, Iris Origo, Archibald Lyall, Elena Croce and, naturally, Sue and Geoffrey Jel-
licoe, to whom she dedicated this book) as well as those of the Roman aristocracy, developing a keen inter-
est in the architecture of the résidences in which she was received.
It was thanks to her contacts and her obvious passion for villas and gardens that, starting in the late
1940s and for more than 20 years, she was given the chance to live in a cottage that was originally built to
be part of stables. The cottage was situated under the Palazzina Corsini, which was later incorporated into
the park of the Villa Doria Pamphili on the Gianicolo in Rome. It was offered to her by its owners - also
Masson's friends - for very Iow rent, and she transformed it into a cosy place to work and entertain friends.
On the land bounded by a small rocky basin next to the house, Masson created an intriguing garden that
boasted several rare botanical spécimens she had found during her strolls through the park, including Fritil-
laria obliqua (one of the bulbous plants introduced to Europe from Turkey before 1581 and that, thanks to
her, was also brought to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London), alongside native species such as ole-
anders and plants grown from the seeds of fruit she ate, such as the lush avocado grove. The outeome was
a one-of-a-kind ensemble that mirrored its creator's unique personality23.
22 Ackerman's article and book on the Cortile del Belvédère are more detailed examinations of the subject of his doctoral
dissertation (New York University), which was one of the first in the United States on the construction of outdoor space: J. Acker-
man, The Belvédère as a Classical Villa, „Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes" 16, 1951, pp. 325-360; idem, The
Cortile del Belvédère (1503-1585), Vatican City 1954; M. С a 1 v e s i, // Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo, [in:] Scritti di storia dell'arte in
onore di Lionello Ventnri, vol. 1, Rome 1956, pp. 369-402; A. С a n t o n i, La Villa Lante di Bagnaia, Milan 1961 ; C. Lam b, Die
Villa d'Esté in Tivoli, Munchen 1966; C. Franck, Die Barockvillen in Frascati /550-1750, Munchen-Berlin 1956.
23 It is a shame that even the memory of this eccentric and treasured garden, which was immortalized in several photographs
and was discussed by Marella Caracciolo (M. Caracciolo, The Secret Garden of Marion Johnson I II giardino segreto di
Marion Johnson", in A. С ар o d i f e r r o, C. L a u f (eds.), Georgina Masson 1912-1980. Sélection from the Photographie Archive
I Selezioni dall'Archivio Fotografico, Milan 2003), was lost when the acquisition of the entire Villa Pamphili complex by the Italian
government, a process commenced in 1958, went into effect in 1971. At that point, its management went to the State Property Of-
fice, which turned the area into a car park and dépôt. The most récent monograph about the villa does not even mention the English