GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE

'You should have gardens where you can stroll and, on occasion, host banquets...where you can arrange rare and exotic plants with care. In these places, you can especially appreciate the careful arrangement of myrtle, boxwood, citrus trees and rosemary...' Giovanni Pontano (1494). Biblical paradise on earth, here are holy figures and flowers from The Spinola Hours, the Flemish glorious colour illumination on the borders of a prayer book. Here are gardens in life and literature, trellised arches woven with flowers and grapes decorating the borders of images in these books of hours and laypersons' private prayer books. Red flowers are likely the rose campion, associated with the Crucifixion. Dreaming of Gardens sees the Romance of the Rose, an allegorical, chivalric poem that celebrates the mythical garden of Love, with illuminated copies featuring a variety of scenes that took place inside and outside the garden walls. The chapter on Villas, Châteaux and Courtly Spaces shows the illumination of the natural world and the Model Book of Calligraphy where the illustrations rival the script in beauty and complexity. Painted with spellbinding precision, we appreciate the pink and yellow striped tulip by Joris Hoefnagel whose highly accurate illuminations preserved a floral record of species from as far away as modern-day Turkey and Peru. Here are garden peas to lantern plants and rare gems like a European flower called Herb Robert. A beautifully produced J. Paul Getty Museum publication with glossy pages and dripping with colour throughout, 78 large pages.