HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
Lancelot “Capability” Brown: English landscape designer, Master Gardener at Hampton Court and now the subject of a lavish biography by the author, garden photographer and historic landscape consultant Steffie Shields.
Born in 1716, Brown rejected the formalism inspired by the gardens of Versailles in favour of the blurred lines between art and nature. His approach earned him success and aristocratic commissions, many of which survive to this day including the gardens at Gatton Park Reigate, Petworth Park West Sussex, and Stowe Buckinghamshire.
Moving Heaven & Earth is an affectionate tribute to Brown’s genius and Shields has really done him proud. She has spent more than twenty-five years extensively researching her subject and the result is a hugely readable, beautifully illustrated book with photographs taken by the author.
Although Brown’s work has divided opinion (one critic called him the destroyer of “so many fine avenues and marvellous English gardens”), Shields believes his legacy is “an enduring generosity of design” to the “gift of landscape”.
Reviewed by Juliette Foster
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