The outdoors provides enormous pleasure for many of us. Throughout the last year or so of lockdowns, we have never appreciated these spaces more. Whether your canvas is a city balcony, a suburban courtyard, or a rolling landscape garden, garden antiques bring texture and interest.

Seeking Arcadia

Gardens, in their private and public capacities, have existed in some form since the ancient world. Their uses have evolved, of course, from the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon to modern sculpture gardens. However, at their essence gardens have always been a space for beauty, relaxation, solitude, and worship.

Various developments have transformed gardens over the years. Urban planning descended on Europe in the 17^th Century, and cultivated gardens were seen as a way of regulating nature. By the 19^th Century, demand for public outdoor spaces gave rise to more and more furniture, including the humble park bench. Industrialisation played a huge role, and the mass production of materials like cast-iron brought about a wide range of garden features.

Despite these common developments throughout Europe, countries across the continent developed their own unique approaches to gardens. Much of our collection of outdoor antiques originates from France and England, and these countries had quite different takes on the ‘garden’ concept.

Jardin à Françoise

The formal gardens at Versailles, designed by André le Nôtre.

The French garden style is a majestic feat of design and engineering. Symmetry, cohesion, and straight lines typify the Jardin à Françoise and this formality still characterises French gardens today. The Sun King, Louis XIV, commissioned what would become the pinnacle of French gardens. The extraordinary and vast gardens at Versailles exemplify the formal French style.

Versailles was executed by André le Nôtre, principal gardener to the King of France. Le Nôtre was not only faced with a dull and uninspiring landscape but also a capricious and unpredictable master. This makes the end result all the more impressive.

Taming nature

Indeed, Louis XIV wanted his chateau and their gardens to reflect his total dominance over everything- nature included. André le Nôtre took this brief and ran with it, and his name is synonymous with the apex of French garden design. He began work on Versailles in 1662, and it would take him until the end of the century to finish his project. The design focussed on subordinating nature whilst also appreciating its natural beauty. Gardeners manipulated water into over 50 water features, including fountains, pools, and canals. Similarly, endless topiaries are tamed into neat aesthetic shapes which give the overall look a mesmerising cohesion.

Despite the scale of gardens like Versailles, French gardeners wanted the beholder to appreciate certain features in the landscape. French gardens were designed to highlight a centerpiece, which is often the château or house. They were intended to be viewed from a distance so that nothing is obscured and your eyes are trained to the main attraction.  Symmetry and geometry allow for this focus whilst also giving the impression of endless depth and scale. This is the magical paradox at the heart of the Jardin à Françoise.

The English landscape movement

The Temple of Ancient Virtue on Elysian Fields at Stowe, Buckinghamshire.

Across the pond, Britain followed in the footsteps of their counterparts on the continent for a while. In the 17^th Century, gardeners adopted a similarly magnificent and grand approach. In particular, the reign of William and Mary saw an overhaul of the gardens at Hampton Court to incorporate features inspired by the Dutch and French, including the Great Maze. When Charles II ascended to the throne, he asked André le Nôtre to oversee the designs for Greenwich Park in London.

But the style didn’t find permanence in England like it did in France. In the 18^th Century, there was a groundswell against formal landscape gardening. The French style mirrored an absolutist monarchical government, and British sentiment was leaning away from this. In Horace Walpole’s 1750s essay The History of the Modern Taste in Garden, he captures this attitude clearly. He describes Britain as, ‘an Empire of Freemen, an Empire formed by Trade, not by a military conquering Spirit, maintained by the valour of independent Property.’ He goes on to champion a new natural garden style, that he claimed the English had invented.

Much of the inspiration behind this new natural landscape garden came from art as well as politics. Romantic paintings depicted landscapes that were much more natural than English gardens at the time. The growing desire for something freer, something less prescribed, led to a gardening revolution.

Kent's revolution

One name is heavily attached to the new approach: William Kent. Kent already had a reputation for his prowess with classical architecture, and he began to incorporate the classical Arcadian feel into gardens. Chiswick House is often described as having the first ‘natural’ garden, designed by Kent under the direction of his mentor Lord Burlington. The gardens offer sloping lawns, a serpentine lake, and a rustic waterfall. Clipped hedges and heavily formulaic gardening are notably absent.

Kent’s name is also attached to the stunning landscapes at Rousham House, Stowe, and Badminton House amongst others. Classical buildings, such as temples and monuments, sprung up in his gardens. In his essay, Horace Walpole delights in the way Kent ‘leaped the fence, and saw that all nature was a garden.’

Structured informality

The revolution did not begin and end with Kent, and many consider Lancelot Brown as Britain’s most prolific country garden designer. His nickname, 'Capability Brown,' comes from his oft-repeated phrase that a site had great ‘capability’ for improvement. Despite early collaborations between the two, Brown moved Kent’s style on in the face of new commercial and practical factors.  For example, the rise in hunting birds with guns demanded more areas of cover in the landscape and Brown incorporated clusters of trees into open spaces. He did, however, share Kent’s fondness for buildings in the classical style. Brown's landscapes were peppered with rotundas, temples, and monuments- his Grecian Valley at Stowe is most notable. 

It was Brown who truly codified the natural landscape garden. He worked at over 250 sites and had the majority of the House of Lords on his client list. It is important to note that this revolution was never about doing away with design completely. In fact, meticulous planning is behind every great English landscape garden- you just cannot tell.  

Conversations with the past

Whilst different countries evolved their own approaches to gardening, they also produced beautiful furniture and statuary elements to adorn their landscapes. Royals and nobles raced to keep up with fashions across the continent and source beautiful garden statues and sculptures. Stone has always been very popular, and the rich also commissioned marble and cast lead pieces. 

Genuine 17th and 18th Century examples of these items are hard to come by and often very expensive. But in the 19th and 20th Centuries makers reproduced many popular styles with great results. These pieces often appear older than they are because of years of exposure to the elements.

French foundries produced some of the finest iron furniture. The town of Arras in northern France produced reams of wrought iron pieces in the 19^th Century. This durable yet very pretty garden furniture is still highly sought after today. The organic curves of an Arras piece will bring texture and whimsical appeal to any garden setting. Val D'Osne was one of the most prolific cast iron art foundries, producing everything from street furniture to majestic statues. England has an enormous legacy of makers who crafted iconic designs. Work by the likes of Coade, Coalbrookdale, and Pulham & Sons is still coveted today and can be seen at many prominent sights around Britain. 

Styling garden antiques today

Blending antiques with nature. One of our tables at the on form exhibition in 2018.

Times have changed of course, and the function of gardens continues to evolve. We may not be dealing with the same amount of space (nor budget) as The Sun King, but garden antiques have a magical effect on a space. The garden and its features have a certain timelessness to them and you don’t have to inhabit an ancestral estate to create a wonderful garden. Adding weathered features to a newly planted garden will give it a more established and mature feel. 

Gardenalia connects us to our ancestors as well as our natural surroundings. Often practical features and tools, such as lead cisterns and tethering blocks, are just as charming as purposely decorative benches. Antiques have a symbiotic relationship with the flora and fauna that surrounds them. Natural processes, such as the oxidisation of copper and weathering of a stone statue, transform an object into something arguably much more beautiful.

The French were masters of playing with scale, and this is where the secret to a beautiful garden lies. With an open mind, a grand statue can look fantastic in a small leafy corner and other carefully placed pieces can really change the beholder's perception. Don’t fear a clash of styles; you can unite a wide range of pieces, materials, by their common texture and colour.

Garden antiques at Lorfords

Because these pieces were designed to endure in the first place, we are lucky to have a plethora to choose from. We covet garden antiques because of their wear and tear, rather than in spite of it. Lichens, moss, weathering, and patination give a garden piece its beauty and appeal.

If you're not quite ready to start moving outside, our previous article, 'Where home meets garden,' explains how can you bring garden pieces into your interiors.

Here at Lorfords, we believe our outdoor spaces deserve the same love as our interiors. Our extensive collection of garden antiques brings the beautiful history of European gardens to you. Choose from our planters and urns, garden seating and tables, architectural elements, and more.