The history of the garden in the Renaissance, traced from the late fourteenth century in Italy to the death of André Le Nôtre in 1700 in France, is a story both of dynamism and codification. The period saw the emergence of what would become archetypal elements of the formal garden and the fixing of theory and language of the garden arts.

At the same time, newly important sciences, developments in engineering, as well as globalization, historicity, and theories of aesthetics were embraced in the construction of such gardens. The result was the notion of the landscape as something to be labored on, created, and delighted in, that ultimately would become a stage upon which Renaissance cultural politics played out.

A Cultural History of Gardens in the Renaissance presents an overview of the period with essays on issues of design, types of gardens, planting, use and reception, issues of meaning, verbal and visual representation of gardens, and the relationship of gardens to the larger landscape.

Table of contents

• A Cultural History of Gardens in the Renaissance, Edited by Elizabeth Hyde
• Introduction
• Design, Luke Morgan, Monash University, Australia
• Types of Gardens, Rafaella Fabiani Giannetto, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Plantings, Margherita Zalum Cardon, Università di Pisa, Italy
• Use and Reception, Elizabeth Hyde, Kean University, USA
• Meaning, Luke Morgan, Monash University, Australia
• Verbal Representations, Michael Leslie, Rhodes College, USA
• Visual Representations, Malgorzata Szafranska, The Royal Castle, Warsaw, Poland
• Gardens and the Larger Landscape, Mirka Benes, University of Texas at Austin, USA