building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

The modern art of laying out grounds is, indeed, considered by many as
an anomalous business, practised by a set of empirics without principles;
but the truth is […] [that, editor’s note] its principles as an art of
imagination are those of painting, and as an art contributing to the
convenience and comfort of man, it is directed by those of fitness and
utility. The principles of architecture are precisely the same; indeed the
principles of composition are the same in all the arts of taste; and
whether an artist compose a poem, a piece of music, a building, a
painted or a real landscape, he is alike guided by unity of expression as
to the whole or general effect, and by the connection and co‐operation
of the component parts 233 .
In 1843, he also showed an interest in the problem of the cemeteries and tried his
hand at designing three burial sites: Bath Abbey Cemetery, Histon Road Cemetery,
and Southampton Cemetery. Until then, there were no texts, which had dealt with
the topic in detail, giving examples and specific thoughts. The fashion and
experiments, which had developed in the United States, imposed a theoretical
analysis of the topic within the landscape project. 234 In his The Gardener’s
Magazine, Loudon develops a chapter entitled The principles of Landscape‐
Gardening and Landscape‐Architecture applied to the Laying out of Public
Cemeteries and the Improvement of Churchyards, in which he systematically faces a
series of problems: the project, planting, architecture, general jobs to be carried
out, maintenance work to be predicted [Figure 105]. He also included information
concerning public health, a list of suitable trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants for
cemeteries, and naturally a series of illustrative drawings. When he specified the
purposes of the cemetery, he excluded the recreational use of the garden cemetery,
as was customary in America: “The main object of a burial‐ground is, the disposal of
the remains of the dead in such a manner as that their decomposition, and return
to the earth from which they sprung, shall not prove injurious to the living; either by
affecting their health, or shocking their feelings, opinions, or prejudices. A
secondary object is, or ought to be, the improvement of the moral sentiments and
general taste of all classes, and more especially of the great masses of society” 235 .
233 Ibid., p. 7
234 See CURL, James Stevens, “John Claudius Loudon and the Garden Cemetery Movement”, Garden
History, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 133‐156
235 LOUDON, John Claudius, The Gardener’s Magazine and register of rural and domestic
improvement, London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1843, p. 93
141