Capability Brown: Designing the English Landscape

by John Phibbs, Joe Cornish (Photographer)

In celebration of his 300th year, a definitive survey of Capability Brown’s most famous gardens and landscapes in Britain. Widely acknowledged as the most influential landscape designer of his age, Lancelot "Capability" Brown was to England what Frederick Law Olmsted was to America—responsible for shaping the very ideal of the nation’s parkland. Brown’s ambition was to bring out of a landscape the best of its potential rather than impose his own ideas upon it. His designs are organic, weaving gestures of color and perspective into the features that the country already afforded. So natural are his designs, and so perfectly do they complement the houses within them, that for many a Capability Brown landscape is the epitome of the English estate. His gardens and parklands—as much as the houses themselves—would become icons of British country life. Published to coincide with the tercentenary of his birth, this remarkable book illuminates fifteen of Brown’s most celebrated landscapes. To love the great English estates is to love the settings with which Brown surrounded them—from idyllic parklands at Milton and Broadlands to structured landscapes around iconic houses at Blenheim, Burghley, Wakefield, and Chatsworth. With photography commissioned for the book, and including rarely seen archival drawings that shed light on Brown’s process, this book serves as a guide to Britain’s most beloved landscapes and an exploration of the masterful mind behind their creation.

Genres: Horticulture, History, Gardening, Architecture, Nature

280 pages, Hardcover

Published October 25, 2016

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures. Some are really just breathtaking. The color, the view, the subjects, everything. This has been soothing in the evenings on tough days, lovely when I needed inspiration. I found the writing sort of wooden and not interesting, but it hardly mattered. Beside the point. I don't regret this purchase at all. The sort of thing you can flip open again and again and still get pleasure from.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

väga ilusate piltidega raamat ja eks ta kohvilauaraamatuks põhiosas mõeldud ongi. natuke siiski on juttu ka juures.

Capability Browni enda kohta sain siit teada väga vähe. eelkõige seda, et Capability ikkagi oli hüüdnimi ja ta ema oli talle nimeks pannud Lancelot Brown. mis ei ole otseselt vähem veider nimi, aga hea, et see asi klaariks sai.

muidu olid siin, jah, kas ma ütlesin, et pildid - kuulsa maastikuarhitekti disainitud maastikest. mis, olgu öeldud, on suures osas äravahetamiseni sarnased väga paljude teiste, täiesti disainimata inglise maastikega. mis omakorda on tihti täiesti hingematvalt kaunid ja sa ei oska isegi öelda, miks - seal on lihtsalt taustal mäed (mitte kõrged) ja esiplaanil põllud või heinamaad ja vahel mõni üksik puu või väike salu ja vahel jõekäär või veesilm; mõnikord paistab kuskilt õitsva põõsa varjust mingi kiriku- või lossivare või sissekukkunud kivikatusega karjuseonn. ja see kõik kokku on üle mõistuse maaliline, ehkki seal tõesti midagi erilist justkui ei ole.

ja eks see vist oligi Browni stiil ja filosoofia - et kui sa juba oled endale ehitanud uhke maja ja omad kogu maastikku selle ümber, siis parem oleks, et IGAST aknast ja uksest ja rõdult avaneb mõni selline maaliline vaade. ja kui juba maa-ala on nii suur, et on vaja eraldi ratsutamisradasid või piknikukohti, siis muidugi sealt tagasi maja poole võiks ka omakorda olla kena vaadata. ja selle kõige nimel ta üsna sõna otseses mõttes liigutas mägesid ja kaevas jõgesid ja istutas suuri puid ühest kohast teise - lihtsalt selleks, et pärast jääks mulje, et loodus on ikka kaunilt seadnud need asjad. ei saa öelda, et ma seda mõtteviisi eriti isegi pahaks suudaksin panna.

üks tore mõttekäik jäi mulle siit raamatust meelde - et miks inglased sellised tohutud... muru, aga ka niisama rohu ja heina fännid on? nagu üks hiinlane olevat hämmingus öelnud, et ta saab aru, et vaade tühjale muruplatsile võiks meeldida hobusele, aga mida leiab selles inimene? vot vastus oli umbes selline, et tollal (18. sajandil) oli rohi/hein ju kütuseks transpordile, ja seega vaatas inglise maaomanik oma heinamaad sama suure naudinguga, kui Texase miljardär oma naftavälju.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lancelot "Capability" Brown "moved mountains" to get the effect that he wanted in his created landscapes. He became a heavy hitter in this newly developed discipline of landscape architecture.
The commissions that he worked are a stellar lineup of stately homes such as: Stowe, Chastsworth, Broadlands, Burghley House, Milton Abbey, and Blenheim Palace. The author can seem to be an over critical second guesser at times, but this book is beautifully illustrated.
If you are considering a trip to England, and you love gardens, you would do very well to read this book as you may find some delightful destinations that could very well prove to turn out to be the highlights of your journey.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the paper book. Five stars for a stunning coffee-table book because of the breathtakingly beautiful photographs. I wish I had read about Capability Brown before visiting one of his famous landscapes. What a tremendous talent, and a revolutionary idea to let the landscape be the driving force behind design. Some of the terminology is very specialized (and also seems uniquely British), but that does not detract from enjoying learning about Brown’s beautiful legacy.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my bucket list items is to complete a Capability Brown tour of most of the great country houses and their grounds that he influenced. I've stomped around about a half-dozen, and this spectacularly illustrated volume inspire me to visit the rest. Brown both created and taught us to see what was (and occasionally still is) most beautiful about the English lowland landscape: the mixed use land, parks, farms, lakes, and the follies, temples, and orangeries that provided walks, courting spots, and delightful views for the idle rich three hundred years ago and today wonder for the modern tourist like me. I've held one of Brown's before-and-after books in my hands, and to look at those is to realize that he was an artist who moved mountains of earth, created lakes, and changed vistas -- only to vanish into his work when he was done.

[Douglas Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource and historical reference. It explains a lot for me to understand how the British gardening movement evolved.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photographs in this book which make up a great deal of it deserve 5 stars. Absolutely stunning especially if you are interested in landscape architecture and great British estates. I found the narrative difficult to follow and often uninformative especially considering how much of it there is. I assume part of the problem is that I am not British and thus the places the book covers are not part of my general knowledge so the author is assuming I already know a great deal about the topic which I do not. I ended up finding several articles about Capability Brown online and reading them to gain an idea of the man and his work. This helped a great deal.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Photos 5.0 Text...Meh and confusing