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The Art of Garden and Landscape Design and the Mathematical Sciences in the Early Modern Period

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Gardens, Knowledge and the Sciences in the Early Modern Period

Part of the book series: Trends in the History of Science ((TRENDSHISTORYSCIENCE))

Abstract

The mathematical sciences of the early modern period comprised many fields of knowledge, and those such as astronomy, geography, optics, music, practical geometry, acoustics, architecture and arithmetic were often deliberately oriented towards practical applications. Between the mid-sixteenth and mid-eighteenth centuries, practitioners of the mathematical sciences and garden and landscape designers shared the conviction that nature could be controlled and manipulated, and the methods used and the knowledge acquired in the mathematical sciences opened up new ways to do this. These potentialities affected the realm of landscape design and gardening in various formative ways that reached directly into the political sphere by offering new possibilities for political representation, of which there are numerous noteworthy examples, including the gardens of Versailles, perhaps the most magnificent representational gardens in seventeenth-century Europe.

This essay draws on my publications (Remmert 2004, 2007, 2008). I am indebted to Ben Kern for his critical reading of the paper.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Mit wenigen Worten/ein rechtschaffener Gärtner muß mit vielen Wissenschaften begabet seyn/und nicht nur allein einen guten Naturkündiger geben/sondern auch etwas von der Geometria und Feldmeßkunst wissen/die Architectur verstehen/den Himmels-Lauff und die Constellationes erkennen/und einen guten Hand- und Grund-Riß aufziehen können; dann sonsten er vielmehr ein unverständiger Bauer/als ein Kunst-Gärtner/benamet werden mag.” (Stromer von Reichenbach 1671: 9)

  2. 2.

    “Was aber ein rechtschaffener Gärtner seyn wil/der muß seine Kunst vorhero in einem Chur=oder Fürstlichen Garten recht und wohl lernen […].” (Hesse 1710: 13–15)

  3. 3.

    “Aber auff unser vornehmen zu kommen/sagen wir/daß die Natur/die sich manchmal ungeschicklich erzeigt/durch Kunst kann auffgerichtet/geleitet und in Ordnung gebracht werden.” (Groen 1669, page one of introduction). On Groen see (de Jong 1988: 16ff).

  4. 4.

    “[…]; mais quand on composéroit encore plusieurs autres Volumes sur cette Matiére-là, on ne pourroit jamais l’épuiser, ni même l’exprimer au juste dans quel qu’une de ses Parties, parce qu’elle varie tous les jours, sur mille diférens sujets que la Nature, cultivée par les Nouveaux Arts […].” (Dézallier d’Argenville 1711: page 4 of the letter of dedication)

  5. 5.

    Huygens : “Il n’y a point de matière qui puisse m’agréer davantage que la méchanique et la géométrie qu’on voit dans les ouvrages de la nature.” Quoted from (Baridon 2003: 83). Wolff : “so bringt uns die Mathematick zu der vollkommensten Erkäntnis aller möglichen Dinge in der Welt. Da nun ferner diese Erkäntnis uns geschickt machet die Kräffte der Natur nach unserem Gefallen zu unserem Nutzen in dem Grade anzuwenden, den wir verlangen; so erlangen wir durch die Mathematick die Herrschaft über die Natur.” (Wolff 1716: 864)

  6. 6.

    Leibniz to Du Mont , July 11, 1696.

  7. 7.

    (Saint-Simon 1857: 467): “La violence qui y a été faite partout à la nature repousse et dégoûte malgré soi.”

  8. 8.

    On Evelyn see (Darley 2006; Harris and Hunter 2003; O’Malley and Wolschke-Bulmahn 1998; Parry 1992).

  9. 9.

    Evelyn to Robert Boyle , September 3, 1659 (Evelyn 1879: III, 262).

  10. 10.

    On the edition and the shortcomings of the commentary see the review by Thomas (2001).

  11. 11.

    Article Jardinage in the Encyclopédie, vol. VIII, Paris 1765, 459f: “[…] le jardinage est l’art de planter, de décorer& de cultiver toutes sortes des jardins; il fait partie de la Botanique.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies (IZWT), Wuppertal University, Gaussstr. 20, 42119, Wuppertal, Germany

    Volker R. Remmert

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  1. Volker R. Remmert
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Correspondence to Volker R. Remmert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Garden Art and Landscape Architecture, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Hubertus Fischer

  2. Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies (IZWT), Wuppertal University, Wuppertal, Germany

    Volker R. Remmert

  3. Centre of Garden Art and Landscape Architecture, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn

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Remmert, V.R. (2016). The Art of Garden and Landscape Design and the Mathematical Sciences in the Early Modern Period. In: Fischer, H., Remmert, V., Wolschke-Bulmahn, J. (eds) Gardens, Knowledge and the Sciences in the Early Modern Period. Trends in the History of Science. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26342-7_2

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