Stephen Switzer
Encyclopedia
Stephen Switzer was a garden designer and writer on garden subjects, an early exponent of the English landscape garden who admired and emulated the formal grandeur of French broad prospects and woodland avenues, finding in the state of horticulture
an index of cultural health, in Augustan Rome as in contemporary Britain, where "August Designs [his example is Blenheim Palace
] denote that Greatness of Mind that reigns in the English Nobility and Gentry". His landscape design principles parallel those expressed in Alexander Pope
's Epistle to Lord Burlington and the views on "natural" gardening expressed in essays by Joseph Addison
.
Switzer received sufficient early training in Hampshire
to be taken on as a garden boy working for George London
and Henry Wise in their Brompton nursery, in Kensington, now part of London. Switzer helped execute London's designs at Castle Howard
, Yorkshire (from 1706), notably the "wilderness", at Cirencester Park
, Gloucestershire (from about 1713), and at Blenheim Palace
, Oxfordshire. Switzer also designed the garden at Grimsthorpe Castle
, Lincolnshire (about 1716).
In 1715 Stephen Switzer published a work on "Forest, or Rural Gardening", The Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation, which he expanded to form his Ichnographia (1718; lightly revised and enlarged with two further essays as Ichnographia Rustica 1741-42). He also published The Practical Husbandman and Planter (1733).
Stephen Switzer included the first lengthy historical sketch of the progress of gardening in England in The Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation was vocal in the criticism of topiary
and the formality of the "Dutch Garden" and introduced the term ferme ornée
, the "ornamental farm" integrating the ‘useful’ and ‘profitable’ aspects of kitchen gardening and animal husbandry with apparently artless beautiful and charming views and details.
His main rival in the practical, though not the literary, aspects of early tentative exercises in "naturalistic" planting schemes was Charles Bridgeman
.
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
an index of cultural health, in Augustan Rome as in contemporary Britain, where "August Designs [his example is Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...
] denote that Greatness of Mind that reigns in the English Nobility and Gentry". His landscape design principles parallel those expressed in Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
's Epistle to Lord Burlington and the views on "natural" gardening expressed in essays by Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison...
.
Switzer received sufficient early training in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
to be taken on as a garden boy working for George London
George London (landscape architect)
George London was an English nurseryman and garden designer. He aspired to the baroque style and worked on the gardens at Hampton Court, Melbourne Hall and Wimpole Hall....
and Henry Wise in their Brompton nursery, in Kensington, now part of London. Switzer helped execute London's designs at Castle Howard
Castle Howard
Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, north of York. One of the grandest private residences in Britain, most of it was built between 1699 and 1712 for the 3rd Earl of Carlisle, to a design by Sir John Vanbrugh...
, Yorkshire (from 1706), notably the "wilderness", at Cirencester Park
Cirencester Park
Cirencester Park is a cricket ground in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1853, when Cirencester played an All-England Eleven....
, Gloucestershire (from about 1713), and at Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...
, Oxfordshire. Switzer also designed the garden at Grimsthorpe Castle
Grimsthorpe Castle
Grimsthorpe Castle is a country house in Lincolnshire, England four miles north-west of Bourne on the A151. It lies within a 3,000 acre park of rolling pastures, lakes, and woodland landscaped by Capability Brown...
, Lincolnshire (about 1716).
In 1715 Stephen Switzer published a work on "Forest, or Rural Gardening", The Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation, which he expanded to form his Ichnographia (1718; lightly revised and enlarged with two further essays as Ichnographia Rustica 1741-42). He also published The Practical Husbandman and Planter (1733).
Stephen Switzer included the first lengthy historical sketch of the progress of gardening in England in The Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener's Recreation was vocal in the criticism of topiary
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
and the formality of the "Dutch Garden" and introduced the term ferme ornée
Ferme ornée
The term ferme ornée as used in English garden history derives from Stephen Switzer's term for 'ornamented farm'. It describes a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. During the eighteenth century the original ferme ornée was Woburn Farm, made by...
, the "ornamental farm" integrating the ‘useful’ and ‘profitable’ aspects of kitchen gardening and animal husbandry with apparently artless beautiful and charming views and details.
His main rival in the practical, though not the literary, aspects of early tentative exercises in "naturalistic" planting schemes was Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...
.