In This Issue
July 26% better… than 2012
Refurbishment strategy paying off for Notcutts
Fire crews rescue man after fall at Wyevale Surrey centre
Ten go through to final Rising Stars masterclass
Burgon & Ball supports young garden designer
Top grass: perennials with character
Forest Garden lay on shed-loads of fun at CarFest North
Woodlodge debuts at spoga-gafa with new product ranges
Seasonal Plant Area Manager
Plantarea Manager
Garden Centre Manager (Derbyshire)
Account Manager Horticultural - Office Based
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Bestsellers Garden Products chart boosted by lighting sales
Sales of Veg-2-Gro plants see massive growth in volumes
Autumn plants start selling during July
Zest 4 Leisure taking on Ironman Poland
‘People's Choice' award winning Chelsea garden designer to talk at Tong
Edinburgh hosts prestigious Art of the Garden exhibition
Scotts press on with hydroponics drive
Maryanne Stokes acquires online trading company
Inside the August issue of Garden Trade News
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
GTN's Greatest Awards 2016
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
Matthew Algie to showcase new Espresso Warehouse products at Lunch!
Situations Vacant
Seasonal Plant Area Manager
Salary: Excellent
 
Read more»
Plantarea Manager
Salary: Excellent
 
Read more»
Garden Centre Manager (Derbyshire)
Salary: Excellent
 
Read more»
Account Manager Horticultural - Office Based
Salary: £28,000 - £30,000
 
Read more»
Send us your news and great ideas
Contact us with your news. 

Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700
Edinburgh hosts prestigious Art of the Garden exhibition

From drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and a gardening manual owned by Henry VIII, to a metre-high clock in the form of a vase of flowers, a new exhibition exploring the garden in art opened in Edinburgh on Friday.

‘Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden’ (at The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, until 26 February 2017) brings together more than 75 paintings, drawings, books, and decorative arts from the Royal Collection, a number of which have not been exhibited in Scotland before. From spectacular images of epic royal landscapes to jewel-like manuscripts and delicate botanical studies, it includes works by masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt van Rijn.

Shown in Scotland for the first time, a copy of the Ruralia Commoda, the world's first gardening manual, acquired by Henry VIII after the death in 1543 of its previous owner, Richard Rawson, the King's chaplain and advisor on his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, is on display. It was written in Latin between 1304 and 1309 by Petrus de Crescentiis, a wealthy lawyer from Bologna in Italy, and was the only publication of its kind during Henry VIII's reign.

Also displayed for the first time in Scotland is a book of verse by the Edinburgh-born artist Esther Inglis, illustrated with watercolour paintings of native species of flower, such as the thistle and buttercup. It was one of four works created by Inglis for the young Henry, Prince of Wales (the eldest son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, who was brought up in Edinburgh) and is believed to have been presented as a New Year's gift in 1607.

A highlight of the exhibition is the magnificent Sunflower Clockc.1752, produced in the 18th century by the Vincennes porcelain factory. The clock is made up of delicate porcelain flowers that surround a dial made from brass shavings to imitate the centre of a sunflower, a symbol of the Sun King, Louis XIV. A Sèvres porcelain pot-pourri gondole, 1757–8, for growing bulbsacquired by George IV when Prince of Wales, was once displayed in the dining room of Carlton House, the Prince's London residence.

Painting Paradise includes works on paper that chart the rise of botanical art. Leonardo da Vinci's pen-and-ink drawing of Job's tearsc.1510, shows the artist's desire to understand the structure and growth of plants as part of his wider interest in examining the scientific forces underpinning the whole of nature. Six delicate works by Alexander Marshalc.1650-82, represent the phenomenon of the florilegium, a celebration of the plants in a particular collection or garden. Marshal's work is the only surviving paintedflorilegium from 17th-century England.

In the Victorian period, the garden was often used as the backdrop for portraits of the Royal Family. A painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter from 1850 shows Queen Victoria nursing her third son, Prince Arthur, on the Pavilion Terrace at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The composition echoes the traditional image of the Madonna and Child in a garden, while the setting reflects the latest fashions in horticulture. It includes an Agave americana, a succulent from Mexico, which was among the many rare species collected by botanists and introduced into Victorian domestic gardens.

Also explored in the exhibition is the theme of the 'sacred garden'. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, 1615, is one of a series of 'Paradise landscapes' by the Flemish artist Jan Brueghel the Elder. The exquisite painting by Rembrandt van Rijn of Christ and St Mary Magdalene at the Tomb, 1638, depicts the New Testament story of Mary Magdalene mistaking the resurrected Christ for a gardener.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg
Email Newsletter Software by Newsweaver