BROOKE, After E. Adveno (active 1853-1861)

The Lake, Trentham Hall Gardens, The Seat of His Grace the Duke of Sutherland

London: Published by T. McLean, 1857. Hand-coloured lithograph. Image size: 11 1/8 x 16 3/4 inches. Sheet size: 14 1/8 x 19 7/8 inches.

Published in 1857, The Gardens of England is a series of 24 plates with accompanying text depicting the diverse luxuriant gardens of various distinguished English mansions. The mid-nineteenth century was a period during which the traditional aesthetics of garden design underwent a significant change in England, as innovative ideas and concepts were being continually introduced and explored. Brooke's publication embodies the eclectic nature of Victorian garden design and constitutes an important visual survey of the varied styles that were popular among the wealthy and fashionable. Trentham Gardens were formal Italianate gardens, part of an English landscape park. The gardens are set within a large area of woodland. Together these currently together cover some 300 acres. The gardens were designed as a serpentine park by Capability Brown from 1758 onwards, overlying an earlier formal design attributed to Charles Bridgeman. Trentham Gardens are now principally known for the surviving formal gardens laid out in the 1840s by Sir Charles Barry and Lancelot Brown. The very romantic view depicted here shows a gondola on the lake at sunset, with young couples waiting to embark. The lake depicted was created by diverting the Trent River, and it was the pollution of the lake by nearby potteries that brough about the demolition of the great Barry mansion. Little is known about E. Adveno Brooke, other than that he exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Institution between 1853 and 1864 and his most significant publication was The Gardens of England.

Cf. Abbey, Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland, 392; cf. Cf. Benezit, Dictionnaire Des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, Vol. 2, p. 842.

Item #29786

Price: $1,200.00