An indispensable part of the Baroque garden complex is a utilitarian section devoted to the production of fruit, vegetables and herbs. Kitchen gardens are as strictly structured in their architecture as the pleasure garden.
Order and symmetry have top priority. The beds are square or rectangular. Besides the domestic kitchen herbs and vegetable sorts, new plants imported from abroad were cultivated, including Turkish wheat (maize) and potatoes.
A lively exchange took place throughout Europe: specialists came from abroad bringing new impulses in the cultivation of fruit trees and flowers. This was accompanied by prolific specialist literature on care and cultivation.
Bringing fresh fruit and vegetables onto the table also out of season was a sign of luxury. Hence a bountiful kitchen garden was a matter of prestige.
Left wall
Fine and Mine
One of the privileges of the upper classes was the enjoyment of fresh, exotic fruits. This primarily applied to citrus fruits, but also pineapples and figs. The exotic plants fulfilled multiple requirements: they were status symbols, had a decorative character, and the yield was processed in both kitchen and pharmacy. Being able to serve one’s guests such exclusive fruits was the ultimate in luxury and one-upmanship.
The exotic shrubs and bushes were wintered during the cold seasons in orangeries and then presented in summer in separate orangery gardens. However, tending these sensitive, warmth-loving plants and making them bloom and produce fruit – even keeping them alive – was a highly responsible task for the specially trained gardener. It needed subtly attuned skills and much patience.
Pruning fruit trees
Illustration from: Louis Liger, La Nouvelle Maison Rustique ou Économie générale de tous les biens de campagne, vol. 2, Paris, 1755 (reproduction)
The kitchen garden also included a tree nursery where seedlings grew in strict geometric patterns. In addition to apricots and plums, a wide variety of apple and pear varieties grew there. Templates explained the correct pruning and propagation of the varieties.
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H., Inv.Nr. Lit59364
Fruit Stall – satirical illustration
copperplate engraving, Matthias Darly, 1777 (reproduction)
A monstrous pyramid of hair is piled on top of a woman's head, decorated with a fruit vendor's wares.
British Museum, Inv.Nr. J,5.123/ © The Trustees of the British Museum
Double candlestick with wine grower as Autumn with grapes
porcelain, glazed, Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur, 1755–1760
Autumn is shown with the typical fruit of the season, the grape. The double candlestick is very likely to have been part of a table decoration. Fantasy portrayals of figures with gardening motifs were very popular in the Baroque era.
MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Inv.Nr. KE 9462
Porcelain figure Citrus Fruit Vendor
Citrus fruits were merchandised in the countries north of the Alps by so-called “limoni” vendors. Whilst the latter served the general public, the wealthy aristocracy grew the fruits in their own gardens.
Stift St. Paul im Lavanttal, Kunstsammlungen
List of grape sorts growing in Schloss Hof
dated 8 March 1825 (reproduction)
Already during the time of Prince Eugene various sorts of wine were grown at Schloss Hof that were still cultivated long after the death of Maria Theresa. Scions of these vines were also supplied to other noble houses and members of the Imperial family, for instance the Counts of Althan or Archduke Charles. Even the Bavarian court garden director Skell ordered scions from Schloss Hof, since “the excellence of the vine cultivated at the Imperial and Royal domain of Schlosshof is renowned and its fruit estimated as the best by His Majesty the King of Bavaria,”
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Abteilung Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Güterdirektion Wien, Kt 925, Az 1175
Spring festival on a winter day in the Orangery at Schönbrunn Palace
colored copperplate engraving, Johann Hieronymus Löschenkohl, 1785 (reproduction)
The heated orangery was sometimes used as a venue for celebrations during the winter months. In February 1785, Emperor Joseph II's guests dined surrounded by 2,000 blossoming orange trees.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 179092
Terrine in the form of a lemon
ceramic, 20th century
Lemon terrines contained servings in which this exotic fruit played a role.
Neulengbach, Sammlung Punkenhof 11
Obstverkaufferin (Fruit Vendor). Fruitiere en Detail
engraving, Jakob (Jacob) Adam, from: Abbildungen des gemeinen Volks zu Wien, sheet 95, 1777 (reproduction)
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 20553/95
Horticulture
engraving, Martin Engelbrecht, c. 1730
Several typical horticultural tasks can be detected here, ranging from planting and care all the way to the fruit harvest.
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H., Inv.Nr. SKB 007542
Back wall
Still Life with Oranges, Citrons and Lemons
oil painting, Bartolomeo Bimbi,1715 (reproduction)
Presented here on trelliswork among white blossoms against dark-green foliage are around ninety citrus fruits, individually portrayed according to sort. Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, commissioned four such paintings to decorate his bedroom, thus conjured up a lemon grove in his four walls. These heat-sensitive and extremely cost-intensive plants were imported from the south. They were wintered in specially built orangeries at the edge of the Baroque garden.
Meisterdrucke/ Poggio A Caiano, Villa Medicea, Museo Della Natura Morta
Still Life with Exotic and Domestic Fruits
oil painting, Bartolomeo Bimbi,1715 (reproduction)
Meisterdrucke/Privatsammlung
Still life with fruit and vegetables on a white tablecloth
oil painting, Peter Krafft, 1830–1840 (reproduction)
Belvedere, Wien, Inv.Nr. 6661
Plan of the overall ensemble of Schloss Hof with designated fruit and kitchen garden
pen and wash, anonymous, post-1760 (reproduction)
This overall plan shows the unusually extensive Kuchelgarden – kitchen garden – and Baumschulgarten – tree nursery – of Schloss Hof set out on terraces on the southern slope.
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H., Inv.Nr. SKB 008008
Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie: Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers
Vol I, Paris, 1746, p. 1
De la Quintinie (1624–1688), director of the fruit and vegetable garden in Versailles under Louis XIV, here provides detailed instructions for planning the special section reserved for the kitchen garden. He stresses the importance of obeying the foremost rule, namely, that the garden should be a pleasure for the eye, not an irritation, and should contain nothing outlandish.
Private Collection
Overall plan of Niederweiden with designated fruit and vegetable garden
coloured pen drawing, c. 1760 (reproduction)
An extensive section in the Niederweiden garden is taken up by the tree nursery and the kitchen garden. Vegetables grow in strictly geometrical beds; later, they will mostly land in the lord’s kitchen in Schloss Hof or are sometimes sold to the servants. Much space is taken up by the so called Kräutergarten, the herb garden.
Österreichische Bundesforste AG
Terrine in the form of a cauliflower
ceramic, 20th C.
Terrines in a great variety of forms adorned festively decked tables. People were fond of serving vegetables in thematically marching terrines.
Neulengbach, Sammlung Punkenhof 11
Monument for Emperor Francis Stephen I in the Dutch Botanical Garden in Schönbrunn
drawing, Johann Christian Brand, 1775 (reproduction)
One year after the sudden death of Francis Stephen, Maria Theresa commissioned the sculptor Balthasar Moll to make a bronze bust of her consort. The monument illustrated here installed in the Dutch Botanical Garden is surrounded by exotic plants, thus manifesting the emperor’s interests. High hedges hide the individual sections of the kitchen garden. The area in front is a delightful place to take a stroll.
ALBERTINA, Wien, Inv.Nr. 24329
Ground plan of the Dutch Botanical Garden, the kitchen garden in Schönbrunn
pen and wash drawing, c. 1753 (reproduction)
In 1753, Emperor Francis Stephen I ordered the planning of the Dutch Botanical Garden in the west part of the palace garden in Schönbrunn. The name comes from the immigrant Dutch gardeners who designed and organised this “green treasure chamber”. Pear trees and vines grew along the surrounding walls. Two different glasshouses were constructed on two sides for citrus fruits, pineapples and peaches. The rectangular beds are divided up into three large sections: fruit, vegetables and flower garden.
ALBERTINA, Wien, Inv.Nr. AZ 5510
Left wall
Fruit and Vegetables in Rank and File
The kitchen garden in the Baroque era was no less significant than the pleasure garden but separate from it. Even though it was mainly kept for the production of vegetables, fruit and herbs, the beds and plants were composed in a decorative, strictly geometric pattern – a combination of aesthetics and utility.
Espalier fruit and vines were cultivated along supporting walls. Plants could be grown even outside the natural vegetation periods in hotbeds and glasshouses, where high temperatures were maintained also in winter. Fresh fruit not only landed in the kitchen for processing but was also a decorative element on the table.
The products were primarily used for providing the princely table with fresh products. Anything not consumed was either preserved or even sold.
Reference for planning a kitchen garden
Illustration for the chapter Jardin potager (kitchen garden), from: Denis Diderot and Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert (ed.), Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol 22, 1762 (reproduction)
The great reference work of the Baroque period, the Encyclopaedia of Diderot and d’Alembert, also contains an exemplary description of the kitchen garden and its characteristics: surrounded by a high wall overgrown with espalier trees, herb and vegetable plots strike the eye with their arrangement in strict geometrical rectangles. Also illustrated are covered receptacles that offer protection for frost-susceptible plants.
Bibliothèque Mazarine, Inv.Nr. 2° 3442-22 Jardinage potager, pl. I
Illustration of garden pests
From: Roger Schabol, La pratique du jardinage, vol. II, Paris, 1782
As many as there are instruction texts on the nurture, sorts and breeding of kitchen-garden plants, there are as many describing methods for pest control. This work describes the insects and fauna that relish fruit and vegetables – to the gardener’s aggravation.
Private Collection
Illustration of garden pests
From: Roger Schabol, La pratique du jardinage, vol. II, Paris, 1782
The gardener in the Baroque age had to battle against the garden population – still common today – which relished the kitchen-garden plants just as delightedly as did the aristocratic palate. In order to minimise damage as much as possible, the gardener resorted to practical methods: a bonus was paid for every exterminated mole.
Private Collection
Kitchen garden in the Belvedere
engraving, Johann Jakob Gassmann after a drawing by Salomon Kleiner, 1737 (reproduction)
A kitchen garden was intended not only to be useful, namely, to serve one’s physical well-being, but was also to be seen as a work of art – as reflected here in this example of Prince Eugene’s kitchen garden in the Belvedere. The garden is sunken, reminiscent of a boulingrin. This is a strictly geometrical world in which each sort of vegetable has its own fixed place. Yet this ordered and primarily functional environment provides an ideal setting for a pleasurable stroll.
Belvedere, Wien, Inv.Nr. BB_6274-059
Counting peas in the House of Habsburg: letter of the seven-year-old Archduke Joseph Franz
Laxenburg, dated 8 August 1806 (reproduction)
In this letter, the seven-year-old Archduke Joseph Franz (1799–1807) wrote to his parents Emperor Francie II/I and Maria Theresa from Naples-Sicily on his success growing “Zipser Erbsen”, a pea sort from Košice/Kaschau (SK):
“The excellent “Zipser” peas I got from Kaschau and planted here in my garden are already bearing the most beautiful fruit. The first yield belongs to my greatest benefactors, the best Papa and the most loving Mama. I shall accordingly take the liberty of most respectfully sending them.”
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Abteilung Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Sign. HA, Sammelbände, 65/2/2, fol.15/16
Ein Weib mit Grienner Wahr (Woman with Green Wares). La Marchande de legumes
engraving, Jakob (Jacob) Adam, from: Abbildungen des gemeinen Volks zu Wien, sheet 46, 1777 (reproduction)
In the eighteenth century, vegetables – “green wares” – were occasionally on sale at Schloss Hof.
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 20553/46
Mädchen mit rothen Rüben und Gurken (Girl with Beetroots and Cucumbers). Fille aux betes raves et concombres
engraving, Jakob (Jacob) Adam, from: Abbildungen des gemeinen Volks zu Wien, sheet 52, 1777 (reproduction)
Wien Museum, Inv.Nr. 20553/52
Tasks in the kitchen garden
Frontispiece for the chapter „Sixième et dernière partie des jardins fruitiers et potagers“, from: Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, Instruction pour jardins fruitiers et potagers etc., Paris, 1690, vol 2, p. 269 (reproduction)
The four illustrations show the typical tasks performed in the kitchen garden, which is always surrounded by a high wall to protect the plants from theft. Here, the whole gamut of garden work is proceeding in every corner – weeding, cutting trees and raking, even removing the glass from The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Inv.Nr. 88-B4574
