DOI Kapitel:
I. Florentine villas
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61216#0076
FLORENTINE VILLAS
one divided according to the varied requirements of its
inmates, so a garden which is merely one huge outdoor
room is also less interesting and less serviceable than
one which has its logical divisions. Utility was doubt-
less not the only consideration which produced this
careful portioning off of the garden. ^Esthetic im-
pressions were considered, and the effect of passing
from the sunny fruit-garden to the dense grove, thence
to the wide-reaching view, and again to the sheltered
privacy of the pleached walk or the mossy coolness of
the grotto — all this was taken into account by a race of
artists who studied the contrast of aesthetic emotions as
keenly as they did the juxtaposition of dark cypress and
pale lemon-tree, of deep shade and level sunlight. But
the real value of the old Italian garden-plan is that logic
and beauty meet in it, as they should in all sound
architectural work. Each quarter of the garden was
placed where convenience required, and was made
accessible from all the others by the most direct and
rational means; and from this intelligent method of
planning the most varying effects of unexpectedness
and beauty were obtained.
It was said above that lawns are unsuited to the
Italian soil and climate, but it must not be thought that
the Italian gardeners did not appreciate the value of
turf. They used it, but sparingly, knowing that it re-
quired great care and was not a characteristic of the
soil. The bowling-green of the Gamberaia shows how
47
one divided according to the varied requirements of its
inmates, so a garden which is merely one huge outdoor
room is also less interesting and less serviceable than
one which has its logical divisions. Utility was doubt-
less not the only consideration which produced this
careful portioning off of the garden. ^Esthetic im-
pressions were considered, and the effect of passing
from the sunny fruit-garden to the dense grove, thence
to the wide-reaching view, and again to the sheltered
privacy of the pleached walk or the mossy coolness of
the grotto — all this was taken into account by a race of
artists who studied the contrast of aesthetic emotions as
keenly as they did the juxtaposition of dark cypress and
pale lemon-tree, of deep shade and level sunlight. But
the real value of the old Italian garden-plan is that logic
and beauty meet in it, as they should in all sound
architectural work. Each quarter of the garden was
placed where convenience required, and was made
accessible from all the others by the most direct and
rational means; and from this intelligent method of
planning the most varying effects of unexpectedness
and beauty were obtained.
It was said above that lawns are unsuited to the
Italian soil and climate, but it must not be thought that
the Italian gardeners did not appreciate the value of
turf. They used it, but sparingly, knowing that it re-
quired great care and was not a characteristic of the
soil. The bowling-green of the Gamberaia shows how
47