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#0046
40
MARGHER1TA AZZI VISHNTINI
Furtheraiore, Masson was the first to note the novelty of the résidences of some of the new papal families
in Rome during the late Renaissance and Baroque periods, such as the Villa Borghese and the Villa Doria
Pamphili in Rome, and the Villa Mondragone in Frascati, in which the leading role is actually played by the
sprawling informai parks depicted in the contemporary paintings of Lorrain and Poussin. This notion has
recently been developed by scholars such as Mirka Beneś, Alberta Campitelli and Tracy Ehrlich. Similarly,
she was the first to suggest the Roman models as a source of inspiration for the landscape garden, invented
by William Kent (who studied in Rome), a topic that John Dixon Hunt would examine in his insightful Gar-
diens and Grove. The Italian Renaissance Garden in the English Imagination: 1600-1750 (1986)30.
The culmination of work that took a fuli 16 years to complète, Italian Gardens was nevertheless also
a springboard for its author, who. was at the forefront in a moment of great vitality in the field of the historie
garden, which was of interest not only in Italy but throughout the Western world. In tact, she was invited to
the landmark conférence titled "The Italian Garden", which David Coffin organized at Dumbarton Oaks in
1971 and through which this now-mature discipline unquestionably achieved proper récognition. Masson
was one of the four speakers, along with MacDougall, Eugenio Battisti and Lionello Puppi, but she was the
only one who did not have an académie title. Nevertheless, she had already gained international acclaim as
a scholar for ail intents and purposes, thanks to the fellowship she received in 1965 - one of the first fellows
and the first woman to receive this award - at the newly established Department of the History of Landscape
Architecture of the prestigious Washington institute, which is part of Harvard University. Although some
objections remained, they were not tied to her dignity as a scholar, but rather to the lingering preconception
that while the study of the historie garden was important in the éducation of a landscape architect, it should
nevertheless focus principally on the structural aspect of the work, which was best investigated by an archi-
tect, trained or in training31.
It was during the period between the publication of Italian Villas and Palaces (1959) and the Dumbar-
ton Oaks conférence that several book séries, which would be fondamental for the knowledge of Italy's vil-
las and gardens, were launched. Thèse included the invaluable volumes of reproductions of ancient engraved
views published in Milan by Edizioni II Polifilo, the first of which was Ville del Brenta nelle vedute di Vin-
cenzo Coronelli e Gian Francesco Costa, edited by Licisco Magagnato (1960). The "Ville d'Italia" séries,
published by the Milanese Edizioni SISAR (later transferred to Rusconi) and directed by Pier Fausto Bagatti
Valsecchi, was launched in 1970 with Le ville di Roma, edited by Isa Belli Barsali. Coffin's pioneering mono-
giorgi T о m a s i, A. Tosi, "Flora e Ротона ". L'orticoltura nei disegni e nelle incisioni dei secoli XVI-XIX, exhibition catalogue,
Florence 1990, pp. 5-29; E.B. Macdougall, A Cardinal s Bulb Garden: A "Giardino Segreto " at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome,
[in:] E.B. Macdougall, Fountains, Statues, and Flowers. Studies in Italian Garden of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,
Washington D.C. 1993, pp. 219-347; A. Segre, "Horticultural Traditions and the Emergence of the Flower Garden in Italy
(1550-ca. 1650)", Ph.D. thesis, University of York (UK), 1995; A. Segre, Untangling the Knot: Garden Design in Francesco
Colonna's 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili', "Word and Image", 1998, pp. 82-107; L. Tongiorgi Toma si, G.A. Hirschauer,
The Flowering of Florence. Botanical Art for the Medici, Washington DC 2002; M. Z a 1 u m, Passione e cul tura deifiori tra Firenze
e Roma nel XVI e XVIII secolo, Florence 2008. On this subject, see also the introductory essays byL. Tongiorgi To m a s i, A.
Campitelli and M. Z a 1 u m, [in:] G.B. Ferrari, Flora overo cultura difiori, facsimile reproduction of the 1638 Italian édition,
F. T o n g i о r g i T о m a s i (éd.), Florence 2001, pp. IX-FV.
30 See M. Beneś, Pastoralism in the Roman Baroque Villa and in Claude Lorrain: Myt h and Real i fies of the Roman Cam-
pagna, [in:] Beneś, Harris (eds.), op. cit., pp. 88-113; T. Ehrlich, Landscape and Identity in Early Modem Rome. Villa
Culture at Frascati in the Borghese Era, Cambridge 2002; A. Campitelli, Villa Borghese. Da Giardino del Principe a Parco
del popolo, Rome 2003.
31 Testimonial regarding the early history of scholarships in Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks are interesting in this
regard. They reveal and underscore the widespread dichotomy between the concept of the role of the garden architect, who looks
to the past for his or her future works, and those who are instead involved in historical research per se. Thèse considérations also
extended to Masson, whom Michael Rapuano, Chair of the Garden Advisory Committee, considered "a very fine garden historian
[...] but here again we are getting into the historical aspects in lieu of design. If Miss Masson could direct her studies somehow so
that her work would generate an interest in design, then I think she would be worth considering". This passage is from a letter to
Leon Zach dated 20 July, 1965; Leon Zach File, Dumbarton Oaks; and E.B. Macdougall, Prélude: Landscape Studies, 1952-
1972, [in:] С on an (éd.), op. cit., pp. 17-26, and n. 27 on p. 23. Regarding the wariness of architectural historians towards the
history of landscape architecture in America and elsewhere in the 1960s and early 1970s, see D.R. С o ff i n, Préface, [in:] i d e m,
(éd.), The Italian Garden, First Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture, Washington 1972.
pp. VII VIII. See also С o ff i n, The Study..., p. 33; M. В e n e s, Récent Developments and Perspectives in the Historiography of
Italian Gardens, \ in:] С о n a n (éd.), op. cit., pp. 37-76; Macdougall, Prélude..., pp. 23-24; A z z i V i s e n t i n i, Storia dei
giardini..., pp. 61 62.
MARGHER1TA AZZI VISHNTINI
Furtheraiore, Masson was the first to note the novelty of the résidences of some of the new papal families
in Rome during the late Renaissance and Baroque periods, such as the Villa Borghese and the Villa Doria
Pamphili in Rome, and the Villa Mondragone in Frascati, in which the leading role is actually played by the
sprawling informai parks depicted in the contemporary paintings of Lorrain and Poussin. This notion has
recently been developed by scholars such as Mirka Beneś, Alberta Campitelli and Tracy Ehrlich. Similarly,
she was the first to suggest the Roman models as a source of inspiration for the landscape garden, invented
by William Kent (who studied in Rome), a topic that John Dixon Hunt would examine in his insightful Gar-
diens and Grove. The Italian Renaissance Garden in the English Imagination: 1600-1750 (1986)30.
The culmination of work that took a fuli 16 years to complète, Italian Gardens was nevertheless also
a springboard for its author, who. was at the forefront in a moment of great vitality in the field of the historie
garden, which was of interest not only in Italy but throughout the Western world. In tact, she was invited to
the landmark conférence titled "The Italian Garden", which David Coffin organized at Dumbarton Oaks in
1971 and through which this now-mature discipline unquestionably achieved proper récognition. Masson
was one of the four speakers, along with MacDougall, Eugenio Battisti and Lionello Puppi, but she was the
only one who did not have an académie title. Nevertheless, she had already gained international acclaim as
a scholar for ail intents and purposes, thanks to the fellowship she received in 1965 - one of the first fellows
and the first woman to receive this award - at the newly established Department of the History of Landscape
Architecture of the prestigious Washington institute, which is part of Harvard University. Although some
objections remained, they were not tied to her dignity as a scholar, but rather to the lingering preconception
that while the study of the historie garden was important in the éducation of a landscape architect, it should
nevertheless focus principally on the structural aspect of the work, which was best investigated by an archi-
tect, trained or in training31.
It was during the period between the publication of Italian Villas and Palaces (1959) and the Dumbar-
ton Oaks conférence that several book séries, which would be fondamental for the knowledge of Italy's vil-
las and gardens, were launched. Thèse included the invaluable volumes of reproductions of ancient engraved
views published in Milan by Edizioni II Polifilo, the first of which was Ville del Brenta nelle vedute di Vin-
cenzo Coronelli e Gian Francesco Costa, edited by Licisco Magagnato (1960). The "Ville d'Italia" séries,
published by the Milanese Edizioni SISAR (later transferred to Rusconi) and directed by Pier Fausto Bagatti
Valsecchi, was launched in 1970 with Le ville di Roma, edited by Isa Belli Barsali. Coffin's pioneering mono-
giorgi T о m a s i, A. Tosi, "Flora e Ротона ". L'orticoltura nei disegni e nelle incisioni dei secoli XVI-XIX, exhibition catalogue,
Florence 1990, pp. 5-29; E.B. Macdougall, A Cardinal s Bulb Garden: A "Giardino Segreto " at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome,
[in:] E.B. Macdougall, Fountains, Statues, and Flowers. Studies in Italian Garden of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,
Washington D.C. 1993, pp. 219-347; A. Segre, "Horticultural Traditions and the Emergence of the Flower Garden in Italy
(1550-ca. 1650)", Ph.D. thesis, University of York (UK), 1995; A. Segre, Untangling the Knot: Garden Design in Francesco
Colonna's 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili', "Word and Image", 1998, pp. 82-107; L. Tongiorgi Toma si, G.A. Hirschauer,
The Flowering of Florence. Botanical Art for the Medici, Washington DC 2002; M. Z a 1 u m, Passione e cul tura deifiori tra Firenze
e Roma nel XVI e XVIII secolo, Florence 2008. On this subject, see also the introductory essays byL. Tongiorgi To m a s i, A.
Campitelli and M. Z a 1 u m, [in:] G.B. Ferrari, Flora overo cultura difiori, facsimile reproduction of the 1638 Italian édition,
F. T o n g i о r g i T о m a s i (éd.), Florence 2001, pp. IX-FV.
30 See M. Beneś, Pastoralism in the Roman Baroque Villa and in Claude Lorrain: Myt h and Real i fies of the Roman Cam-
pagna, [in:] Beneś, Harris (eds.), op. cit., pp. 88-113; T. Ehrlich, Landscape and Identity in Early Modem Rome. Villa
Culture at Frascati in the Borghese Era, Cambridge 2002; A. Campitelli, Villa Borghese. Da Giardino del Principe a Parco
del popolo, Rome 2003.
31 Testimonial regarding the early history of scholarships in Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks are interesting in this
regard. They reveal and underscore the widespread dichotomy between the concept of the role of the garden architect, who looks
to the past for his or her future works, and those who are instead involved in historical research per se. Thèse considérations also
extended to Masson, whom Michael Rapuano, Chair of the Garden Advisory Committee, considered "a very fine garden historian
[...] but here again we are getting into the historical aspects in lieu of design. If Miss Masson could direct her studies somehow so
that her work would generate an interest in design, then I think she would be worth considering". This passage is from a letter to
Leon Zach dated 20 July, 1965; Leon Zach File, Dumbarton Oaks; and E.B. Macdougall, Prélude: Landscape Studies, 1952-
1972, [in:] С on an (éd.), op. cit., pp. 17-26, and n. 27 on p. 23. Regarding the wariness of architectural historians towards the
history of landscape architecture in America and elsewhere in the 1960s and early 1970s, see D.R. С o ff i n, Préface, [in:] i d e m,
(éd.), The Italian Garden, First Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture, Washington 1972.
pp. VII VIII. See also С o ff i n, The Study..., p. 33; M. В e n e s, Récent Developments and Perspectives in the Historiography of
Italian Gardens, \ in:] С о n a n (éd.), op. cit., pp. 37-76; Macdougall, Prélude..., pp. 23-24; A z z i V i s e n t i n i, Storia dei
giardini..., pp. 61 62.