The Idea of Villa Castagna
A garden is both a real place, and a cloud of possibilities. What you will find here will be both something real, and something that may or may not become real. For this reason you will find no map: Instead you will meet fragments, part real, part possible.
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Category Archives: Design
Jemima Grey’s Chinoiserie Fabrique at Wrest Park. Part 3. Chinese Elements, Function, Typology and Sources
Chinese Elements There is not much Chinese about the fabrique. It has a dragon on the pinnacle, which was easy to miss in 2013 (Fig. 4), but must be much more conspicuous now that it has been gilded (Fig. 13). … Continue reading →
Chinoiserie Fabriques Part 2: William Kent
William Kent, Design for Chinoiserie garden temple, showing plan and detailed elevation with bamboo porch, c. 1730–1735. Pen and brown ink and brown wash on paper. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, E.384-1986. (Fig. 1) English Chinoiserie pavilions explored a … Continue reading →
The Gateway at Montacute Pavilion and the Palazzo del Te
Although the gateway arch was initially intended to have been based on Serlio’s Libro Estraordinario, as it has unfolded it has become the Mannerist Gateway. The inside façade is based on Michelangelo’s Porta Pia, the outside one on Giulio Romano’s … Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Baroque architecture, Baroque Gardens, Construction, Design, Garden History, Montacute, Uncategorized
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Tagged Giulio Romano, Mantua, Palazzo del Te, triglyph
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On Organic Geometry
In Luke Syson and Dora Thornton’s Objects of Virtue there is a nice comparative illustration of a carved ivory knife handle after Francesco Salviati (Fig. 1)[1] and a print by Cherubino Alberti of two designs of knife handles by Salviati … Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architectural paintings, Architecture, Art, Baroque architecture, Design, Rome, Uncategorized
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Tagged Francesco Salviati, Griffin, Renaissance art, sculpture
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Onion Domes and the Spire of the Dresden Hofkirche (1738-51), with asides on the Frauenkirche
Onion domes are seen here as being extravagantly exotic. They are certainly un-English and un-Australian. While ogee curves are common enough here in neo-Elizabethan buildings and Victorian bandstands, I cannot think of an example of an ‘onion’ dome. But first … Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Baroque architecture, Baroque Gardens, Design, Fabriques, Restoration and Conservation, Uncategorized
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Tagged Bolzano, Trento
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On Natural Timber Finishes
My experience with using natural timber finishes on the Montacute carport and other projects. Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Construction, Design, Montacute, Uncategorized
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Tagged natural timber finishes
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On Recent Proposals for Rebuilding the Roof and Spire of Notre Dame
Within a month of the destruction by fire of the roof and flèche (crossing spire) of Notre Dame in Paris, proposals by architects for their replacement abound. Why are these designs so awful? The answer is simple: they lack respect. … Continue reading →