DOI Kapitel:
III. Roman villas
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61216#0124
ROMAN VILLAS
alighted “at Monsieur Petit’s in the Piazza Spagnola,”
many of the great Roman villas were still in the first
freshness of their splendour, and the taste which called
them forth had not yet wearied of them. Later trav-
ellers, with altered ideas, were not sufficiently interested
to examine in detail what already seemed antiquated
and out of fashion; but to Evelyn, a passionate lover
of architecture and garden-craft, the Italian villas were
patterns of excellence, to be carefully studied and mi-
nutely described for the benefit of those who sought
to imitate them in England. It is doubtful if later
generations will ever be diverted by the aquatic “sur-
prises ” and mechanical toys in which Evelyn took such
simple pleasure; but the real beauties he discerned are
once more receiving intelligent recognition after two
centuries of contempt and indifference. It is worth
noting in this connection that, at the very height of the
reaction against Italian gardens, they were lovingly
studied and truly understood by two men great enough
to rise above the prejudices of their age: the French
architects Percier and Fontaine, whose volume con-
tains some of the most suggestive analyses ever written
of the purpose and meaning of Renaissance garden-
architecture.
Probably one of the least changed among the villas
visited by Evelyn is “the house of the Duke of Flor-
ence upon the brow of Mons Pincius.” The Villa
Medici, on being sold by that family in 1801, had the
89
alighted “at Monsieur Petit’s in the Piazza Spagnola,”
many of the great Roman villas were still in the first
freshness of their splendour, and the taste which called
them forth had not yet wearied of them. Later trav-
ellers, with altered ideas, were not sufficiently interested
to examine in detail what already seemed antiquated
and out of fashion; but to Evelyn, a passionate lover
of architecture and garden-craft, the Italian villas were
patterns of excellence, to be carefully studied and mi-
nutely described for the benefit of those who sought
to imitate them in England. It is doubtful if later
generations will ever be diverted by the aquatic “sur-
prises ” and mechanical toys in which Evelyn took such
simple pleasure; but the real beauties he discerned are
once more receiving intelligent recognition after two
centuries of contempt and indifference. It is worth
noting in this connection that, at the very height of the
reaction against Italian gardens, they were lovingly
studied and truly understood by two men great enough
to rise above the prejudices of their age: the French
architects Percier and Fontaine, whose volume con-
tains some of the most suggestive analyses ever written
of the purpose and meaning of Renaissance garden-
architecture.
Probably one of the least changed among the villas
visited by Evelyn is “the house of the Duke of Flor-
ence upon the brow of Mons Pincius.” The Villa
Medici, on being sold by that family in 1801, had the
89