Synopses & Reviews
This fascinating two-volume set includes a photographic reproduction of an anonymous seventeenth-century Italian gardener's notebook from Dumbarton Oaks's Rare Books Collection.
The notebook is a record of the planting of three flower gardens at San Lorenzo. It is now believed that the gardens were created for Margherita de' Medici Farnese, duchess of Parma and Piacenza. The notebook provides insight into the creation of a seventeenth-century garden, from identifying flowers to planning flowerbeds. In turn, these sketches reveal the gardener's own intentions and reflections on the designs.
Ada Segre's accompanying study of the notebook is a groundbreaking example of garden archaeology. She considers its provenance and connection to the world of the duchess and her gardens. Segre also evaluates the importance of the manuscript as an object and as a source of information on garden design and practice in Italy during the mid-seventeenth century. Three computer-generated recreations of the garden's planting beds are included with the reproduction.
Review
The Gardens at San Lorenzo is an exhaustive study of an exceptionally rare horticultural notebook in the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library...[U]sing the notebook itself, along with published books and maps, the author has tenaciously pieced together clues from an impressive number of original Renaissance sources--family registers, letters, and the period's few other extant garden notebooks--to determine the location and ownership of the eponymous gardens and reconstruct their plantings. Chicago Botanical Garden
Review
This treatise on ornamental horticulture during the Italian Renaissance by an historian of Italian gardens, Ada Segre, is especially welcome for the link it provides between the traditional pattern of early Italian gardens and the ornamental garden design that followed...With so few documented planting plans extant from this period, this historic record in the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library Collection is rare, if not unique. Marilyn K. Alaimo
Review
Although the focus of this book is narrow, its contribution to the field of garden history is very important. Patricia Jonas - Plants and Gardens News
Synopsis
This fascinating two-volume set includes a photographic reproduction of an anonymous seventeenth-century Italian gardener's notebook from Dumbarton Oaks's Rare Books Collection. The notebook is a record of the planting of three flower gardens at San Lorenzo and provides insight into the creation of a seventeenth-century garden. Ada Segre's accompanying study of the notebook is a groundbreaking example of garden archaeology.
About the Author
Ada V. Segre is an independent scholar and former Fellow of Dumbarton Oaks and Villa I Tatti.
Dumbarton Oaks and Villa I Tatti
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Volume i 1. Introduction The Garden Notebook The Owner and Location of the Gardens A Duchess Mother and a Jesuit Father: A Garden Alliance Interpreting the Manuscript 2.The Plans of the Flower Gardens The Topographical Reconstruction The Early Garden The Nine-Star Garden The Star-Centered Garden Father Ganducci and Garden Design 3.The Planting Design The Planting at San Lorenzo The Planting of the Early Garden (see Plan 1 insert at back of book) The Planting of the Nine-Star Garden in 1662 and 1664 (see Plan 2a and 2b inserts at back of book) The Planting of the Star-Centered Garden in 1665 (see Plan 3 insert at back of book) Conclusion Appendix A: Description and Transcriptions Appendix A.1 Description of the Manuscript Appendix A.2 Transcription and Translation of the Garden Journal Appendix A.3 A. Transcription of the Nine-Star Garden Planting Plan in 1662 B. Transcription of the Nine-Star Garden Planting Plan in 1664 C. Transcription of Tulips Planted in the Star-Centered Garden in 1665 D. Transcription of the Lit of Tulips Purchased in 1665 E. Transcription of Sown Annual and Perennial Plant Lit F. Lit and Botanical Identification of Sown Plants Appendix B: Plants at San Lorenzo, 1656-1665 Appendices B.1-5 The sources Italian Manuscripts Dutch Tulip Book Manuscripts Printed Sources including Plant Catalogues Appendix B.1 Plants in the Early Garden in 1656 Appendix B.2 Plants in the Nine-Star Garden in 1662 Appendix B.3 Plants in the Nine-Star Garden in 1664 Appendix B.4 Plants in the Star-Centered Garden in 1665 Appendix B.5 A. Acquisition Lit of French Tulips [ca. 1664-65] in (Fol. [VIIIr]) B. Tulips on the Acquisition Lit (1664-65) Not Appearing in Planting Schemes Bibliography Abbreviations Manuscripts Maps and Catato Regiters Sources Published before 1900 Sources Published after 1900 Topographical Reconstruction Maps (inserted at back of book) Plan 1: The Flower Garden at San Lorenzo in 1656 Plan 2a: The Nine-Star Garden in 1662 Plan 2b: The Nine-Star Garden in 1664 Plan 3: The Star-Centered Garden in 1665 Volume ii The Manuscript Planting Notebook (reproduction)