The art of the Baroque garden reflects the joie de vivre of the epoch. Apart from the garden motif per se, it resonates throughout practically all artistic genres.
Horticultural motifs enjoyed great popularity in the Baroque era. Garden depictions revel in detail, virtually transporting us into the world of the Baroque garden. Innumerable engravings and paintings immortalise garden paradises – now frequently lost – in interpretations so ideal as to be practically unattainable in reality.
The variety of horticultural motifs is also reflected in the decorative arts. Floral elements can be found on costly textiles, on the finest porcelain, also on everyday things. Moreover, nature subordinated to the human creative will is the inspiration for Baroque ideas of home living – airy garden scenarios bring nature into the interiors.
Likewise, the influence of the Baroque garden is seen in the world of the performing arts and music. Gardens are the setting and simultaneously scenery for theatre productions and operas. And even in the field of literature we find countless poems and novels set in Baroque gardens – which are sure to have delighted readers at the time in some amenable corner of the garden.
Lady in garden posing before a fountain and garden scene from Schloss Eggenberg
Wall paintings formed a way of bringing the garden into palace interiors. Among them are scenes of spraying and bubbling fountains.
Schloss Eggenberg / Foto: © Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH
Porcelain group Neptune and Amphitrite
porcelain, Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien (modeller: Johann Klammer), 1755–1760
Porcelain figures of this type decorated the festive table and are reminiscent of figures on the fountains of a Baroque garden..
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KE 9131
Terrine with cover
Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, post-1776
The finesse of the porcelain painting attains an excellent representation of individual sorts of flowers and their characteristics, as well as subtle colour shading.
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Objektstandort Hofburg Wien, Silberkammer, Inv.Nr. MD 180504/021A und MD 180504/022A
Flower pillar
faience, decorated, glazed, painted, K. k. Majolika-Fabrik Holitsch/Holíč (SK), c. 1760
This flower pillar decorated with vegetal motifs in the form of foliate volutes might have been part of a table centrepiece. This, too, offered an option for conjuring up the garden in the interior.
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KE 7399-1
Right wall
The Baroque Garden in the Decorative Arts
The delight in the glorious colours and delicacy of flowers, the fascination for vegetal but always strictly symmetrical forms of composition – in other words, the essence of Baroque garden design – also had a great influence on art and the decorative arts. Floral patterns are found on the fashionable clothing of the period, likewise on wallpaper and tapestries. The fine art of porcelain painting dotes equally on floral motifs as it does courtly garden scenes of galanterie. Even tabletops show elaborately designed inlay work inspired by the world of forms experienced in the Baroque garden.
Whole scenarios in idealised garden landscapes were ideal motifs on fans and snuffboxes. Wall paintings in palatial salons show illusionistic scenes with elegantly attired individuals going about their leisure activities in the garden.
Design for a mirror and a table in vegetal form
Sheet 6 from the second part of the sequence of engravings on the theme of the garden and rural architecture, Funcke, Hüllmann and Wagner, late 18th C. (reproduction)
One way of evoking the Baroque garden in the home interior was by adorning furniture with vegetal motifs such as branches, foliage or flowers, or even making furniture parts as such.
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KI 14018-12
Waistcoat with floral embroidery
brocade (silk), 1760–1780
Delicate floral embroidery gracing the clothing of both women and men was much in vogue in the Baroque period. Frequently worn textiles have rarely been preserved because of their fragility, hence this item of clothing with its colourful flair is absolutely unique.
Kunstsammlung und Archiv, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Inv.Nr. KM 525
Round snuff box with garden motifs on the inside of the lid
porcelain, gold mounting, Meissen, 1st half 18th C.
JTI Collection Vienna, Inv.Nr. 213041
Rococo toilet kit
copper, enamelled with gilt metal mounting, c. 1770–1780
Nature scenes with flowers are sometimes even found on toiletry items
SKB, Inv.Nr. SKB 006703
Snuff box with garden scenes
enamel, copper mounting, gilded, Daniel Chodowiecki, Berlin, c. 1765
Snuff boxes like this one with their many aspects provided ideal substrates for miniature garden scenes. Snuffing tobacco was one of the most popular leisure activities in aristocratic society. Quite often this pleasure was enjoyed in the open air, perhaps in a shady corner of the garden.
JTI Collection Vienna, Inv.Nr. 202427
Snuff box with gallant couples making music in a garden
enamel, gold mounting, Berlin, c. 1760
JTI Collection Vienna, Inv.Nr. 209155
Spoon case with floral volutes
DeIicate floral motifs are tooled into the leather of the case, which is made to fit the shape of the spoon.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Snuff box with strollers in the park
enamel, gold mounting, England, c. 1770
JTI Collection Vienna, Inv.Nr. 202419
Christ appears as Gardener to Mary Magdalene
drawing, Pieter van Schuppen, c. 1640 (reproduction)
The motif of Christ appearing as a gardener was much favoured in eighteenth-century art. Mary Magdalene is the first according to St John’s Gospel to meet the resurrected Christ near the empty tomb, but she doesn’t recognise him, thinking he is a gardener. She therefore asks him if he might be the one who took away the body of the crucified Christ. She recognises him only after he calls her by name.
ALBERTINA, Wien, Inv.Nr. 47691
Leopold II, Roman Emperor before the Throne of Justice of Minos – allegory of the death of Leopold II on 1 March 1792
colour engraving, Johann Hieronymus Löschenkohl, 1792 (reproduction)
The judges of the Underworld grant the deceased Emperor Leopold entrance into Elysium. The Isle of the Blessed and Just in the right half of the picture is represented here as Baroque garden.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 38671
Mitre with floral embroidery
Vienna, c. 1730–1740
Textiles offer an ideal substrate material for floral motifs. In virtually endless variations, fabrics are woven, embroidered or printed with floral motifs such as petals and leaves.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Shoes with embroidered floral and volute motifs
In the Baroque period, ecclesiastical dignitaries were literally “festooned” from top to toe with textiles that on occasion are embellished with gaily colourful and extremely precious floral embroidery.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Table with pietra dura inlay work of stone
Pietra dura is the art of depicting motifs and ornamentation with artfully cut pieces of hard stone types such as agate, jasper and lapis lazuli, also mother-of-pearl and coral. Mastery in this art form came to its peak above all in Florence.
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Standort Schloss Schönbrunn, Inv.Nr. MD 040013
Back wall
Baroque Garden Art in Image and Graphics
Paintings that revel in detail help us to appreciate the splendour of Baroque gardens and often provide an important documentary source for lost garden paradises. The complex garden layouts are also immortalised in graphic works. Produced in high numbers, they served to propagate trends in garden design throughout Europe. All this contributed in addition to illustrating the owners’ social status, thus fulfilling an important function for prestige and public image.
Besides the reproductions of real gardens, people also delighted in motifs reflecting imaginary idylls born of one’s own invention. Such “ideal gardens” are often populated by ancient deities and allegories of the seasons and months.
The ephemerality of flowers in all their glory is banished through the beloved still-life interpretations: the motif of artistically arranged floral bouquets had a permanent place in every aristocratic painting collection.
Young Woman in a Garden
collage page (etching in crayon manner), Gilles Demarteau after a template by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, 1742–1776 (reproduction)
ALBERTINA, Wien, Inv.Nr. F/II/59/38
The Imperial Summer Palace of Schönbrunn, garden side
oil painting, Bernardo Bellotto, called Canaletto, 1759/60 (reproduction)
This famous view of Schönbrunn represents the state of the Grand Parterre of the garden at the time of Maria Theresa. Here, Canaletto spectacularly captures the interplay of strict lines and curving forms, of light and shade. The lateral walls formed of trees and hedges set up a frame for the colourful carpet of the parterre with its lawn sections, flower borders and precise topiary.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie, Inv.Nr. GG 1667
The Imperial Summer Palace of Schloss Hof, view from the east
oil painting, Bernardo Bellotto, called Canaletto, 1759/60 (reproduction)
Maria Theresa commissioned three views to be painted of the imperial country seat of Schloss Hof. The artist’s mastery of detail enables us to visualise the entire splendour of this garden. Paintings and graphics depicting an estate contributed to the enhancement of the owner’s image and name. The spatial impact of this garden with its strictly geometrical appearance and its presentation of fountains, flower beds and shady bosquets is an overwhelming synthesis of the arts.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie, Inv.Nr. GG 1674
Still Life of Flowers with Parrot
oil painting, anonymous, 18th C.
While flowers were arranged in rank and file in the Baroque garden, in a painting they can be displayed as a random yet always aesthetic miscellany.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
Table with pietra dura inlay work of stone
The various colours and grain of the polished, fastidiously set shaped stones are used here for a naturalistic depiction of colourful floral bouquets, fruits and birds.
Bundesmobilienverwaltung, Standort Schloss Schönbrunn, Inv.Nr. MD 040014
Vertumnus and Pomona
oil on copper, David Teniers the Elder, 1638 (reproduction)
The picture shows Vertumnus, the god of the garden, change and growth, who, transformed into an old women, stealthily tricks his way into the favour of Pomona, the goddess of fruit. They are seated in a walled garden at springtime. The frugally planted beds accentuate the costliness of individual blooms such as white tulips and crown imperial. The most extravagant and thus extremely expensive sorts of tulips are of course presented in pots of their own.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie, Inv.Nr. GG 738
Flora in the Garden
oil on copper, Pieter van Avont, c. 1630 (reproduction)
In the history of art vegetation deities are often shown in a garden. Most of all, Flora goddess of flowers and the spring, was beloved by patrons and similarly by the artists who interpreted her. This picture captures the motif in an entrancing way: Flora accompanied by putti (childlike figures) is seated in front of a garden. She shows us and her company her floral specialities, including crown imperial, tulips, lilies and roses.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie, Inv.Nr. GG 1692
Children in the Garden
collage page (etching in crayon manner), Gilles Demarteau after a template by François Boucher, 1742–1776 (reproduction)
ALBERTINA, Wien, Inv.Nr. F/II/40/55
Schloss Halbturn and its Garden
oil painting, anonymous, c. 1730–1740 (reproduction)
Schloss Halbturn, an imperial possession since 1724, can boast a small but prestigious Baroque garden. The sunken central broderie parterre is designed as an extension to the central banqueting hall. Tall trees crowned with cones and a surrounding trellis for flowers and espalier fruit adorn this “small garden, not very large, but possessing a most delightful flair”, as a contemporary described it.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie, Inv.Nr. GG 2908
The Baroque Garden in the Performing Arts, Art, Literature and Music
The world of the Baroque garden is also closely associated with the performing arts – we only have to think of the works Handel composed for open-air performance, for instance the Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. The nocturnal garden, festively illuminated, sets the scene for dance, drama and operatic performances. The open-air show is a unique experience for the audience, with nature itself as protagonist, taking part the form of the vegetation and weather.
Quite often, members of the aristocracy and academe were active as writers on the literary scene. For instance, Louis XIV wrote a horticultural guide for the park of Versailles. Another genre in the artistic engagement with the Baroque garden includes poems and so called pastorals (a type of the Baroque novel), in which love life is idealised in a pastoral setting.
Scene from the pastoral ballet Le Triomphe de l’Amour (The Triumph of Love)
oil painting Johann Georg Weikert or Johann Franz Greipel, post-1765 (animated reproduction)
This short balletic interlude was first performed for the marriage of Joseph II with Maria Josepha of Bavaria in Schönbrunn in 1765. In the foreground we see Joseph’s youngest siblings Ferdinand and Maria Antonia as a pair of shepherds in a garden scene; in the centre we can detect Maximilian as Cupid.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie, Inv.Nr. GG 3148
Der ander Aufzug deß Lustgartens zu der Sciena di Comedia (The alternative act of the pleasure garden for the Scena di Comedia)
Stage design for a theatre scene from: Joseph Furttenbach, Architectura recreationis, 1640 (reproduction)
Although this depiction is reminiscent of a peep box, the opera offers a grand stage for the representation of Baroque gardens. Several levels of scenery flats are graduated on both sides of the backdrop, giving an impression of spatial depth.
ÖNB, Sammlung von Handschriften und alten Drucken, Inv.Nr. Cod. 10842 HAN MAG / Scan 202
The Elysian Fields, stage design for the opera La Monarchia latina trionfante
engraving, Matthäus Küsel after a design by Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini, 1678 (reproduction)
Ballets, operas and dramatic performances often took place in the open air, and the natural theatre of a Baroque garden when creatively handled presents an ideal stage. The scenic design from the extravagant opera La Monarchia latina trionfante performed in 1678 on the birth of an imperial prince is a prime example.
aufgeführt wurde, führt dies beispielhaft vor Augen.
ÖNB, Sign. 25071-D MUS
Performance of La costanza d’Ulisse on the pond of the Favorita
engraving, Johann Ulrich Krauss after a design by Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini, 1700 (reproduction)
The performance on the pond in the garden of the imperial summer palace Favorita shows the scene in the opera in which a seemingly endless garden of love spreads out as background for the performers. Shortly prior to this, the set had presented a rocky landscape populated by monsters.
KHM-Museumsverband, Inv.Nr. GS_GSU2471
Illustrations from: Theater Allmanach aus der Oper des 4ten Theils des dumen Gärtners (Theatre Almanac from the Opera of the 4th Part of the Stupid Gardener)
published by Johann Hieronymus Löschenkohl, 1791 (reproduction)
The libretto of the comic opera The Stupid Gardener from the Mountains is by Emanuel Schikaneder, the composer is Benedict Schack. The comedy was first performed in 1789 and is an example of the introduction of the gardener’s occupation into the performing arts.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 124635
Fan with garden scene
bone, paper, 18th C.
Garden scenes of galanterie can be found on many pictorial substrates, the medium of the fan being the most popular. Erotic play is no more than hinted at in this pastoral scene, but in the hidden corners of a Baroque garden things might be different …
Private Collection
Stage design Der Lustgarten (The Pleasure Garden) and text from the opera Il pomo d’oro)
engraving, Matthäus Küsel after a design by Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini, from: Der guldene Apfel. Schauspiel gehalten in Wien auf das höchstherrlichst gesegnete Vermählungsfest dero römisch-kaiserl. und königlichen Majestäten Leopold und Margaretae[…], Nuremberg, 1672 [Reprint: Il Pomo d’Oro, published by the Wiener Bibliophilen-Gesellschaft, 2 vols., Vienna 1965]
This masterpiece of Baroque opera was first performed in 1668 as part of the wedding celebrations – lasting years! – of Emperor Leopold I and Margarita Teresa of Spain. One of the spectacular but extremely cost-intensive stage sets shows an overdimensional, fantastical Baroque garden.
Private Collection
