Gardens, vegetable patches and labyrinths.
Hazan| N° d'inventaire | 22358 |
| Format | 13.5 x 20 |
| Détails | 384 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2007 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782754101097 |
An excellent cultural encyclopedia of the history of the Western garden, illuminating all its levels of meaning. Territory of the gods, sacred landscape during ancient Greece, but still an attempt to approach its perfect, incomparable model, Paradise, the garden hides under its foliage all sorts of references that this guide to the arts aims to decipher. It is also the reflection of the relationship that man maintains with nature. From ancient Egypt to the medieval hortus conclusus, it resists it, surrounds itself with high walls, establishing itself as a protected place, separated from the external chaos. When it becomes larger, even immense, the hand of man intervenes more clearly: to the clipped plants, the rigorous arrangement of the flowerbeds, the symmetrical layout of the paths, are added fountains, ponds, statues, and all proclaim the victory of man over nature, sometimes also the omnipotence of a sovereign, as at Versailles. Liberal England in the 18th century invented the landscaped garden: walls were abolished, and it blended into the surrounding nature, which had become pleasant. At the end of the century, cities were equipped with public gardens, where everyone could relax. The iconography of the garden "speaks" through the various elements that constitute it. Different levels of meaning are superimposed, sometimes very complex, where the architecture and style of an era are mixed with religious, philosophical, literary, and political data. The work first defines, chronologically, from Antiquity to the 19th century, the types of garden, then it sets out the constituent elements of the garden in history (trellises, flowerbeds, greenhouses, etc.). A final part examines the levels of symbolic and literary reading, ways of experiencing the garden, representations carrying messages, mythologies, etc. The whole is completed by two indexes and a bibliography.
An excellent cultural encyclopedia of the history of the Western garden, illuminating all its levels of meaning. Territory of the gods, sacred landscape during ancient Greece, but still an attempt to approach its perfect, incomparable model, Paradise, the garden hides under its foliage all sorts of references that this guide to the arts aims to decipher. It is also the reflection of the relationship that man maintains with nature. From ancient Egypt to the medieval hortus conclusus, it resists it, surrounds itself with high walls, establishing itself as a protected place, separated from the external chaos. When it becomes larger, even immense, the hand of man intervenes more clearly: to the clipped plants, the rigorous arrangement of the flowerbeds, the symmetrical layout of the paths, are added fountains, ponds, statues, and all proclaim the victory of man over nature, sometimes also the omnipotence of a sovereign, as at Versailles. Liberal England in the 18th century invented the landscaped garden: walls were abolished, and it blended into the surrounding nature, which had become pleasant. At the end of the century, cities were equipped with public gardens, where everyone could relax. The iconography of the garden "speaks" through the various elements that constitute it. Different levels of meaning are superimposed, sometimes very complex, where the architecture and style of an era are mixed with religious, philosophical, literary, and political data. The work first defines, chronologically, from Antiquity to the 19th century, the types of garden, then it sets out the constituent elements of the garden in history (trellises, flowerbeds, greenhouses, etc.). A final part examines the levels of symbolic and literary reading, ways of experiencing the garden, representations carrying messages, mythologies, etc. The whole is completed by two indexes and a bibliography.