Opening on 20th March a new exhibition - Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden
- will display the ways in which the garden has been illustrated over the centuries with more than
150 paintings, drawings, books, manuscripts and decorative arts on display.
There will be some of the spectacular paintings of royal
landscapes, jewel-like manuscripts and beautiful botanical studies. These show
the changes in gardens from the 16th to the early 20th century and will include
paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and some of the fabulous work of Carl
Faberge.
The first real garden painting on record in British art is
Henry VIII's Great Garden at Whitehall Palace which forms the background of the
painting The Family of Henry VIII, (c.1545).
In the 18th century there was great rivalry between the
French and English kings as to who could produce the most elaborate royal
garden. In the exhibition there is a panoramic view by Jean-Baptiste Martin of
the gardens at Versailles (c. 1700) and 'A View of Hampton Court' by Leonard
Knyff (c.1702-14).
The 19th century saw the advent of the 'natural' look as
created by Capability Brown - and copied by others - which features in many
paintings, but Queen Victoria and Prince Albert wanted more domestic paintings.
This produced work by Edwin Landseer (who painted the Royal couple in the East
Terrace Garden at Windsor Castle) and William Leighton Leitch who did a
watercolour of the Swiss Cottage at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Flower designs were very popular on porcelain, silver,
furniture and textiles. Jacob Wauters (c. 1650) produced a vine-covered
tapestry of a pergola; Faberge created the beautiful 'Bleeding Heart' which has
flowers suspended from gold stems so that they quiver and look as if they are
being blown by the wind.
This exhibition runs from 20th March - 11th October 2015 at
The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace (entrance in Buckingham Palace Road).
For more information log on to www.royalcollection.org.uk
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