According to Horace Walpole (1717-1797), “Poetry, Painting and Gardening (…) will forever by men of taste be deemed three sisters, or the Three New Graces who dress and adorn nature.” How about exploring the distinctive personalities of England’s gardens and landscapes and their representations in arts in “modern” history?

What makes the English countryside and gardens so characteristic within the European scenery? Why and how did their distinctive features or “personalities” reflect the English nation’s cultural and social changes throughout modern history? How did the relationship between English arts, gardens and landscapes evolve according to these changes? To answer these questions, I decided to travel back in time, from a period which is regarded as the start of “Modern” British history, the Tudor Era and the English “Renaissance”, up to the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, in the late 19^th century. I invite you to join me for this journey of discovery and read my research paper.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading this document. You may download it and use parts of it for your own research work but beware of plagiarism: do not forget to indicate your references as soon as you quote, reformulate, or cite any part or idea written in this essay.

Additional resources:

MOOC on Future Learn platform: Literature of the English Country House, delivered by the University of Sheffield. “A journey through the early 16th century to the late 19th century, exploring what the country houses depicted in literature represent and say about society at the time”. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/country-house-literature

English Landscape, a series of three lectures by Professor Malcolm Andrews at Gresham College (2017). Andrews explores how the distinctive personality of English landscape scenery evolved and was promoted by writers and artists. https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/english-landscape

And finally, some of the books which were particularly useful for my research paper:

If you want to extend this journey to 19^th-century pastoral England, I recommend reading some of Thomas Hardy’s pastoral novels, set in rural Dorset, or watching their excellent TV adaptations:

Note: The photo of Castle Bromwich Historic Gardens which illustrustrates this post come from the following webpage: Castle Bromwich Historic Gardens -, Birmingham Garden – Visit Birmingham