| Positive | petit_potager | On Dec 31, 2006, petit_potager wrote: Dover Publishing meets Monty Python – A magical, quirky little treasure trove of drawings, pleasing etchings, engravings, and mainly re-colored intaglio depictions that look back on the garden through the eyes of artists. Just as Versailles mania spread across Europe, no prince or princeling worthy of his title was content until he too had structured his garden in an imitation of Le Notre.
In Vienna, the Hapsburgs rebuilt Schonbrunn deliberately to rival Versailles. In Germany, Schwetzinger boasted a vast circular parterre with curved trellis arches.
Garden Mania thrives on the interplay and alternation of formal and informal. The highly styled late Seventeenth, and Early Eighteenth Century parterres, sculpture, arbors, and bosquets were bound to provoke a reaction – the revolt against formality and Classicism first began in England. Garden Mania is an inclusive compendium of garden fantasy, design and ornament that will especially charm artists familiar with Dover stylebooks. Noting however, Clarkson Potter of New York published this book. Thames & Hudson Ltd., London, originally published Garden Mania.
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