Flowers are the key ingredients for transforming a Baroque garden into a sensuous paradise, growing in their thousands in the low, flat beds – the parterres. They form a kaleidoscopic carpet of blooms, where the single plants lose their individuality and harmonise like tesserae in a colourfully patterned mosaic.
A Baroque garden fascinates not only through its floral splendour. Arranged into ornamental patterns, the complicated tendril figures are framed by box plants. Occasionally enhancing the colourful glory of the flowers we find bits of charcoal, red-brick grit, white chalk, coloured marble chippings and even glass splinters adding glitter and gleam to the ensemble.
A contrast to the sun-drenched parterres is created through the bosquets – areas formed of trimmed hedges and trees with niches concealed within, promising a diverting play of light and shade. Ingenious sightlines are affected through unswerving avenues of trees. The taste of the time dictated that the natural growth of the plants be shaped by the garden shears into geometric forms.
And fancy and imagination knew no bounds!
Right wall
Nature Refashioned
Man rules nature – the great credo of the Baroque era. This is best expressed in the art of topiary. Exactly trimmed trees or shrubs form exact arcades, columns and colonnades. The yew and box trees shaped into spheres, pyramids and cones are placed cunningly between the parterre areas like pieces in a game of chess.
People can stroll at their leisure and delight in the “green walls” of the bosquets formed of trimmed box, sycamore and lime trees. These “rooms without ceilings” conceal little nooks with benches and open places. A labyrinth, a maze or even a complete “theatre in the hedges” might be integrated into the overall plan. An elaborately cultivated highlight inside the bosquets are the sunken, stepped lawns (boulingrins – “bowling greens”!) – also used, as the name says, for playing bowls.
The horticulturalist Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville wrote that bosquets form the “key element in a garden”; they “set the stage for all other parts”, and one cannot have enough of them.
View into the garden of Palais Kaunitz in the Viennese district of Mariahilf
Oil painting Bernardo Bellotto, 1759/60 (reproduction)
Meisterdrucke/Szépművészeti Múzeum/Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Inv.Nr. 52.207
View of the garden side of the palace of Prince Trautson in Vienna
Des Fürstlichen Trauthsonischen Gebäudes Prospect von der Garten-Seite, engraving, Johann Adam Delsenbach after a drawing by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, from: Anfang Einiger Vorstellungen der Vornehmsten Gebäude sowohl innerhalb der Stadt als in denen Vorstädten, 1719 (reproduction)
Sometimes the most bizarre forms of topiary and plant-cutting were thought up. In the Palais Trautson garden, for instance, the parterre edges were sometimes adorned with topiarised small trees, their tops ending in three thin branches with balls.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Sign. 4" Sc 3196, Tafel 22
Double candlestick with gardener
porcelain, painted
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KE 9460
Three miniature porcelain vases with floral decoration
Such small vases adorned the royal table, their floral volutes lending it an air of gaiety.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Small flower garden in the Imperial Augarten in Vienna
Prospect des kleines Blumen-Gärtleins in dem Kaiserl. Augarten, engraving, Georg Daniel Heumann after a drawing by Salomon Kleiner, c. 1735, from: Wahrhafte und genaue Abbildung [...], Part 5 (reproduction)
Yew and box play a major role in framing parterre sections. Because of their thin branches they can be cut into the most complicated forms, thus provide ideal “material” for the garden architect.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 179346/6
Louis Liger: Le nouveau theatre d’agriculture et menage des champs
Paris, 1723
This page from Liger’s voluminous publication defines the detailed composition of the broderie parterre, whereby parts of the parterre are to be delineated with sand, brick chippings, lawn, and so forth. The author also designates the names of the individual arabesques.
Private Collection
Pleasure grove in the garden of the Imperial Summer Palace Favorita in Vienna
Prospect gegen das Lust-Wäldle in obgedachten Kaiserl. Favoriten-Garten, engraving, Georg Daniel Heumann after a drawing by Salomon Kleiner, c. 1735, from: Wahrhafte und genaue Abbildung [...], Part 5, fig. 3 (reproduction)
In a Baroque garden, trees and shrubs that have been shaped by the garden shears grow in rank and file. They therefore seem like open-air chess figures. Baroque planning specifications dictated that bosquet sections be placed adjacent to the open space. These form small “pleasure groves” with precisely cut “green walls”.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 179346/3
Topiary variants
Etchings by Johann David Fülck, from: Neue Garten Lust, oder Völliges Ornament, published by Johann Andreas Pfeffel, Augsburg, 18th C. (reproduction)
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KI 15499/12 und 13
Orange bosquet in the garden of Palais Liechtenstein in Vienna
Prospect des Bosquet mit einer Parterre von Waasen, da im Sommer Orange-Bäume zu stehen kommen, engraving, Franz Michael Regenfuß after a drawing by Salomon Kleiner, c. 1735, from: Wahrhafte und genaue Abbildung [...], Part 5, fig. 22 (reproduction)
Gardeners fetch the costly lemon tree to place it among the small, cone-shaped trees. Tall trees cut by the shears into a hive shape form a frame for the scene.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 15779
Prospect of the boulingrin in the small garden of the Belvedere
engraving, Johann August Corvinus after a drawing by Salomon Kleiner, 1737 (reproduction)
Lime trees crowned with cone-shaped tops line a so called boulingrin (“bowling green”). This ornamental sunken lawn accessed by stepped lawn was extremely complicated to tend.
Belvedere, Wien, Inv.Nr. BB_1012-077
Front wall
Porcelain figure of a gardener with flowers in her apron
During the Baroque period flowers were an extremely popular decorative item. Porcelain figures like this gardener with flowers in her apron sometimes joined the adornments of the Baroque table.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Porcelain figure Rose Vendor
Roses were not only a cherished embellishment in the Baroque garden, but also had practical uses: dried, they were used by pharmacists for making perfume. Therefore, as well as being used as potpourri in the rooms, rose leaves from Schloss Hof were sent by the kilogram to Vienna and delivered to the imperial and royal court apothecary.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Serie of floral plates
Emperor Francis II/I (1768–1835) loved flowers dearly and ordered two series of so called floral plates with individual depictions of flowers from the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory. These plates display naturally rendered flowers painted on either white or black ground. They weren’t decorative items, but were actually used by the Imperial family as dessert plates. The flowers chosen here can likewise be found in the Baroque garden.
Floral plate with depiction of an iris (Iris variegata)
painting on porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien, 1827
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort: Silberkammer Hofburg Wien, Inv.Nr. MD 180075/073
Floral plate with depiction of a camelia (Camellia japonica)
painting on porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien, 1827
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort: Silberkammer Hofburg Wien, Inv.Nr. MD 180076/088
Floral plate with depiction of a geranium (Pelargonium sp.)
painting on porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien, 1827
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort: Silberkammer Hofburg Wien, Inv.Nr. MD 180075/013
Floral plate with depiction of a liverwort (Hepatica nobilis)
painting on porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien, 1830
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort: Silberkammer Hofburg Wien, Inv.Nr. MD 180075/077
Floral plate with depiction of a tulip (Tulipa gesneriana)
painting on porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien, 1829
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort: Silberkammer Hofburg Wien, Inv.Nr. MD 180075/063
Floral plate with depiction of a hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)
painting on porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien, 1819–1823
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort: Silberkammer Hofburg Wien, MD 180076/044
Floral plate with depiction of a carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)
painting on porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien, 1827
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort: Silberkammer Hofburg Wien, Inv.Nr. MD 180076/015
Pot with floral decoration
porcelain, glazed and painted, with gold decoration, Porzellanmanufaktur Nymphenburg, Munich, 18th C.
Floral motifs add charm and gaiety to porcelain hollowware and are therefore a popular motif for everyday wares.
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KE 4501-3
Sugar bowl with floral decoration
porcelain, glazed and painted, with gold decoration, Porzellanmanufaktur Nymphenburg, Munich, 18th C.
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KE 4501-5
The Garden Fanatic
engraving, Philipp Jakob Leidenhoffer, 1708
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H., Inv.Nr. SKB 008613
Free translation:
Flower bulbs get all his money,
but as for profit, there isn’t any,
apart from glory that but briefly blooms.
The other one enjoys the garden
for games, for wantonness and gourmandising;
Because in the open, in the green, says he, anything goes!
A flower gardener
engraving, Martin Engelbrecht, from: Assemblage nouveau des manouvries habilles, c. 1730 (reproduction)
The engraver and art publisher Martin Engelbrecht (1684–1756) published a compilation of engravings including the flower gardener depicted here, entitled Assemblage nouveau des manouvries habilles: Neu-eröffnete Sammlung der mit ihren eigenen Arbeiten und Werckzeugen eingekleideten Künstlern, Handwerckern und Professionen (Newly opened collection of artists, artisans and professions equipped with their own dress, tasks and tools).
Wellcome Collection, London
Marigold (Tagetes)
Page from: Recueil de Plantes cultivées dans le jardin royal à Paris, Nicolas Robert et al., parchment mounted on album sheets, Paris, 1650 (reproduction)
In the Baroque period the Tagetes was also named “Turkish carnation”, although this nomenclature has nothing to do with the origin. The plant stems from Central and South America and had a permanent place in the Baroque flower bed.
ÖNB, Handschriften-, Autographen- und Nachlasssammlung, 1650, Paris, plate 464
Crown Imperial [fritillaria imperialis]
Page from: Recueil de Plantes cultivées dans le jardin royal à Paris, Nicolas Robert et al., parchment mounted on album sheets, Paris, 1650 (reproduction)
Both the resplendent growth of the crown imperial – easily surpassing other flowers in height – as well as its name ensured that this flower was predestined to be an indispensable part of a Baroque flower bed.
ÖNB, Handschriften-, Autographen- und Nachlasssammlung, Cod. Min. 53 / 4 HAN MAG, plate 198
Simbolik der Blumen: Garten-Rittersporn (delphinium), Delfinum Ajacis, Galanterie
watercolour, anonymous, c. 1823
The symbolism of flowers played an important role in the Baroque era as it also did in the nineteenth century, for it could convey messages and attributes. The delphinium is associated with such attributes as galanterie and nobility.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 303457/49
Simbolik der Blumen: Garten-Ranunkl, Ranunculus Asiaticus, Vergeltung (retribution)
watercolour, anonymous, c. 1823
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 303457/5
Artistic flower gardener
engraving, Martin Engelbrecht, from: Assemblage nouveau des manouvries habilles, c. 1730 (reproduction)
Detectable on this idealised portrayal of an artistic flower gardener are various sorts of flowers including the potted carnations in his hand. The assembled tools and the plan of a parterre indicate he is a specially trained flower gardener.
Wellcome Collection, London
Axonometric view of the palace and garden ensemble of Schloss Hof
coloured hand-drawing, signed: Johann Georg Windpässinger Bau Meister, c. 1727–1729, detail (reproduction)
The architect’s plan shows in typical Baroque manner the sections immediately adjacent to the palace as broderie parterres. The convoluted ornaments and motifs are inspired by carpets and textiles.
ÖNB, Kartensammlung, Inv.Nr. Rolle 104.049 KAR
Left wall
“Say It with Flowers”
A garden’s most entrancing embellishment is its flowers, which in their infinite variety of colours and fragrances play a key part in artfully composed beds. Flowers are chosen according to size, colour and impact. Here, the main effect is not achieved by the individual blooms but by the overall impression, similar to an artistically arranged bouquet.
Perhaps more than in any other epoch, people in the Baroque era were fascinated by the ephemeral beauty and delicacy of flowers. Thus we find floral motifs as decorative element on all kinds of objects; the Baroque glory of blooming plants was transported from the garden into the home interiors.
Some sorts of flowers were so exclusive that they were given extraordinarily intensive care. Specially shaped vases were made to provide a perfect setting for particularly fancied flowers. The symbolism of flowers was ideal for sending secret messages – just like today, when we “say it with flowers”.
Playing cards with floral motifs
paper, Hieronymus Löschenkohl, 1806
Playing cards, too, could offer an opportunity to depict various sorts of flowers, as seen in this example. The enterprising publisher and engraver Löschenkohl also produced parlour games like the one on display here, which he usually brought out before Christmas.
Museum Retz
Emperor Francis Stephen I with scientific instruments
oil painting, E. Kölbnitz, 1760–1765, detail (reproduction)
Maria Theresa’s consort is portrayed as a person interested and active in the sciences. How important plants were to him in general is shown by the red-blooming aloe and two vases with hyacinths in the background.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie, location: Schönbrunn, Großes Rosa-Zimmer, Inv.Nr. GG 3459
Hyacinth vase
glass, 21st C.
It is still common today to keep hyacinths in specially made vases, their appearance having scarcely changed since the Baroque period.
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.
Abbots portrayed as flowers
St. Blasien, 1743
In this work, the association with flowers yields some quite surprising blooms. The individual abbots of the St Blasius Monastery are portrayed as flowers.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen, Inv.Nr. Cod. 88/1
Sketch book with stylised flowers
pencil drawing, bound
This sketch book with stylised flowers exhibits a wealth of variation in fantasy flowers
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Carnations in pots – motif from the Bergl Rooms in Schönbrunn Palace
tempera painting, Johann Baptist Wenzel Bergl, c. 1770 (reproduction)
Carnations were among the most cherished garden blooms, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They were not winter-hardy plants in that period and were planted in clay pots standing in the open in summer. Emperor Charles VI owned no fewer than eight hundred carnation pots in Schönbrunn. Already in the sixteenth century a contemporary noted: “The garden carnation, however, is cultivated everywhere in clay vessels, and one can find hardly a house where it is not seen growing in front.”
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H., Inv.Nr. HG022044
Picture of tulips in various colours
Page from: Recueil de Plantes cultivées dans le jardin royal à Paris, Nicolas Robert et al., parchment mounted on album sheets, Paris, 1650 (reproduction)
This ten-volume work came into Prince Eugene’s possession through Jean-Pierre Mariette. It contains several pictures of tulips. Tulips were extremely precious in the Baroque period; they weren’t planted out in massed array like today, but were set in beds individually, thus ennobling every parterre. Tulips with dark stripes (caused by a virus) were particularly sought after.
ÖNB, Handschriften-, Autographen- und Nachlasssammlung, Cod. Min. 53 / 10 HAN MAG, plate 480
Flower holder made of glazed and painted stoneware
K. k. Majolika-Fabrik Holitsch/Holíč (SK), mid-18th C.
Because of their precious value, tulips were displayed in special tulip vases. These are characterised by the numerous holes enabling the flowers to be arranged individually.
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KE 3861
Flower holder
Page from: De florum cultura, Giovanni Battista Ferrari, Rome, 1633
The page opened shows a picture of a vase with numerous holes for individual flowers.
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H., Inv.Nr. SKB Lit1, S. 419
