46 



GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



AN ITALIAN SEVENTEENTH CEN- 

 TURY VASE FROM AN OLD 

 MODEL. 



In the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury Percier and Fontaine published the 

 plans of many of the most famous Roman 

 gardens as they existed before the craze 

 for natural gardening had wrought such 

 havoc. 



In addition to their villas in Rome 

 many of the great cardinals had sumptuous 

 establishments in the country. In the little 

 mountain village of Caprarola, Cardinal 

 Alessandro Farnese built his fortress palace 

 upon an eminence looking out over the 

 broad Campagna. The garden stretches 

 behind up to a single crowning architectural 

 conception, a quadrangle of gigantic figures 

 standing out against the skyline. The palace 

 and garden were designed by Giacomo Vignola, and nowhere is his 

 genius seen to better advantage. Fortunately it has been handed down 

 to our time in a state that presents a vivid picture of the magnificent 

 splendour of the Princes of the Church in the glorious cinquecento. The 

 palace is approached by a magnificent stairway and surrounded by a 

 moat, walls of massive masonry three miles in circuit effectually shut- 

 ting it out from all intrusion. The plan 

 is arranged in the form of a pentagon en- 

 closing a circular court. Round four sides 

 of the palace stretches a broad terrace, and 

 from two of the sides, stairways lead to 

 square parterre gardens joined by a central 

 loggia and fountain. Huge barocco statues, 

 bearing baskets of fruit (illus., p. 49), and 

 elaborately wrought balustrades complete the 

 design. Upon one side is an immense grotto, 

 worked in stucco and pebbles, its walls sus- 

 tained by six gigantic sylvan figures. The 

 ground rises gently behind these parterres, 



ANOTHER FORM OF VASE. 



