Romantic Gardens

John Martin (1789–1854). View of the Temple of Suryah & Fountain of Maha Dao, with a Distant View of North Side of Mansion House. Etching with aquatint added by Frederick Christain Lewis (1779–1856), in Martin's series of views of Sezincote, ca. 1818.

Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art, and Landscape Design is currently on view at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. The exhibition includes prints, drawings and texts showcasing the Romantic ideas that were implemented both in private estates and public parks during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

In addition to the original proposals for Central Park by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the exhibition also includes works by J. M. W. Turner, William Wordsworth and John Ruskin. These and other Romantic-era landscape designers “sought to express the inherent beauty of nature” and looked to nature as a “liberating force.”

Highlights of the exhibition include steel engravings from William Cullen Bryant’s Picturesque America (1872–74), lithographs from Prince Pückler-Muskau’s Hints on Landscape Gardening (1834) and two manuscript “Red Books” by Humphry Repton (1752–1818). The Morgan Library & Museum also has lectures, discussions, family programs and films to accompany the exhibition.

Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art, and Landscape Design is on view through August 29.