dance in the garden

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Dance and theGarden:Alovingnd StaticChoreographyin Renaissanceurope*by JENNIFER NEVILEIn theRenaissanceherewere lose imilarities etween he tatic horeographyftheformalgardens fthenobilityndthemovingchoreographiesperformedbyhemembersfthe ourt.Theprinciplesf rderandproportion,he xpressionfsplendour,hegeometricalforms,ereallfundamentalprinciples fbothRenaissance ourtdance and theformalgarden.Thepatternsn both heseart-formseremeant obeviewedfrombove.Thisclose imilarityndesign rinciples etweenhehorticulturalnd kineticrts xisted ighthroughhefifteenthand sixteenthenturiesnd continuednto he eventeenthentury.

nhisbook,TheRenaissance ardennEngland,RoyStrong escribesthosegardens s a "profound xpression f the Renaissancemind."'He argues hat notonly re thesegardensmportantn thehistoryf artand architectureutthey lso provide bundantmaterialn relation othehistoryf iterature,heatre,cience nd ideas."2Roy Strong, longwith cholars uch as David Coffin, ohnDixon Hunt,and Claudia Laz-zaro toname usta few),haveaddedimmeasurablyo ourknowledge fthegrandgardens f Renaissance urope,throughheir etailed tudiesof thedesign,plantings,rchitecturaleatures,conographicalchemesandthephilosophicalndpolitical ignificancef thesegardens.This articledrawson theworkof scholars fgardenhistorynd itwould not have beenpossiblewithout hedetailed tudies f ndividualgardenswhich hese cholars aveproduced.However, his rticle rawsparallelsbetween hedesignofgardens nRenaissanceEuropeand thecontemporary horeographic esignsof Italian,English,and Frenchdancingmasters: linking f thechoreographicnd horticulturalxpres-sionsof the"Renaissancemind"whichhas nothitherto eenexplored.Through n analysis f thechoreographic atternsfRenaissance ance

*Earlier ersions f this rticlewerepresentedttheSydney ociety fLiteraturendAesthetics olloquium, Sydney, une1994 and theAnnual Conference f theSociety fDance History cholars, oronto,May 1995. 1would iketoexpressmythanks omycol-leagueGrahamPont,who firstnspiredme to ook attheformal ardensnEurope.'Strong, 23.

2Ibid.3The number fscholarlyworks n fifteentho seventeenth-centuryardens s toogreat ofullyisthere.For themainworks eeCoffin, 972, Coffin, 991,MacDougall andHazlehurst, azzaro,Hunt, 1992, and Huntand Willis.

RenaissanceQuarterly 2 (I 999): 805-36 [ 805 1

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806 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYpractices, argue hat heprinciples hichunderlaid hedesign fgrandgardensnEurope lsounderlaid heconstructionfchoreographies.ur-thermore,hat hangesnthedesign rinciplesfthese ardensccurredta similar ime ocorrespondinghangesn thechoreographicractice.Mycontention hattheprincipleswhichgoverned heconductoftheartof dancein the Renaissancewere he same as thosewhichdeter-mined othercreative ndeavours, ncludingthat oftheplanting nddesignofgardens,4 as also recognized t thetime s supportedbySirHugh Plat,whopublished everalgardening ooks in theearly even-teenth entury.n hisbook, The Garden fEden,Platsays: shall nottrouble heReaderwith nycurious ules or haping ndfashioningfaGardenorOrchard -EveryDrawerorEmbroider, ay, almost)eachDancin&Master,myemphasis)maypretend osuch niceties."'As far sPlat was concernedbothchoreographersnd gardendesigners reatedartefacts hichwere onstructedccordingo the amedesignprinciples.Bothgardendesign nd choreographyre concernedwithmanipu-lating, ontrolling,ndorderingpace.Dance can be seenas thecreationofpatterns n space: patternswhich form nd reform,nd traceoutshapes n the ir ndon theground. ormal ardens an also beviewed sthecreation fpatterns n theground: heir hapesarestatic,buttheystillpresenthanging mages s viewers troll rom ection osection, ndnewshapesopen up before hem.An importantlement n thecreation fpatternsnboththechoreo-graphicpractice nd ingardendesignofRenaissanceEurope is that norderto be fully ppreciatedpatternsweremeant to be viewedfromabove. Orderandmeasure, ymmetry,eometricalorms,traightines,theconstructionf thewholeout of smallcompartments,heexpressionofsplendour nd power, nd thecreation fenclosed paceswithclearboundaries, hesewereall fundamental rinciples fbothcourt danceand thegrandgardens.These fundamentalrinciplesreclearlyeeninthe taliangardensand in thecontemporaryollections fchoreographles.he earliest x-tantgarden esign fthe ixteenthenturysa sketch or smallgardenbyBaldessare eruzzi rom he1520s.6The designsnthecompartmentsaregeometric, egments fsquares nd circles. he now famous talian

'The common ntellectualrameworkharedypoets,musicians,horeographers,and rtistsuringheRenaissancesdiscussed ith especto ixteenth-centuryranceyMcGowan, 985.'Plat, 1-32.'Lazzaro, 8.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 807gardens ftheMedicifamilynd othernobilityf ixteenth-centurytalywerebuilt from he 1530s onwards.The Medici villa at Castello was7startedn 1537, thevilla tPoggiowasbegun n thefifteenthentury yLorenzode' Medici, but Duke Cosimo I made additions from1545.'The Villa Lante at Bagnaiawas laid out from1568, the Villa d'Este atTivolibegun n 1560, and theVilla Farnese t Caprarolawas begun nthe1570s.9UAmbrogiana asbegun fter 587,'OwhilePetraiawasren-ovatedbyFerdinando e' Medici from 591 to 1597."The twomainItalian dance treatises f the sixteenthenturywereprintedn 1581'12 and 1602.13From informationn thetreatises,ow-ever,t s clear hatboththeseworkswerepublishednearer o the end ofthe uthors' areers han hebeginning,nd that hey epresenthedancepractice fthe secondhalfofthesixteenth entury, xactly heperiodwhenthegrandgardenswerebeing onstructed.Informationn theprincely ardens f the fifteenthenturys lessabundant.But from hework f cholars uchas David Coffin n thegar-dens in Rome' 4 and from he architectural reatises f thefifteenthcentury,uchas that fLeon Battista lberti,t eems lear hat he ssen-tial characteristicsfstronglyeometrichapes, ompartmentsnclosedwithin finitepaceandarrangednfour uarters erepresent."The fundamentalesignprinciples ound n both the talianhorti-cultural nd choreographicrtswereappliedmorewidely han ust inItaly. hroughout he ixteenthenturynFrance herewasgreat nthu-siasmformperialRome and its eremoniessa symbol fprincely owerinall fields f rtisticndeavour: romrchitectureo the riumphalntry,from at ewelsand coatbuttons o statutes nd trophies,rom aintingto poetry.6This enthusiasm xtended o includethesamegeometrical

'Ibid., 326.'Ibid., 43.'Ibid., 34.'01bid., 0."Ibid., 84.12Caroso, 1581 and a second,revised, ersionn 1600."Negri, 1602."Coffin,1991."For a discussion n theproblems fdating hefifteenth-centurytaliandance trea-tises, ee belowinnote39.16See McGowan, 1985, 121-207,for n extensive iscussion f the French esponseto the deasdeveloped n Italyduring he fifteenthentury yLeon BattistaAlberti ndothers nd the talians'resurrectionf theirmperial eritage.



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808 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYdancepatterns or he French ourtballets swas found n Italiancourtdance, nd inthedescriptionsf theEnglish ourtmasques.'

Thus geometric atternsayat theheart fsixteenth-centurytaliancourtdancing, nd the French n turnwere tronglynfluenced ytheItalianpractice. wo of thedancersnamedbyCesareNegri nhis istofthemostfamous allarini fhisage,LudovicoPalvello ndPompeoDio-bono,worked t the French ourtfrom 554 onwards." The creator fLe BalletCome de la royne, althazarde Beaujoyeulx,was an Italian,Baltazarini i Belgioioso,whoarrivednParis nthe ate1550s.Geomet-ricpatterns ere lsopartoftheFrench ourt's pectacles,uch as Valoisfkes,Le ballet des Polonais 1573) " and Le baletCome de la royne(158 1 .20 The climaxofthe atter ccasionwas a dancewithforty eo-metricalfigures.Geometric dance figurescontinued on into theseventeenthenturysseen nsuchworks s theBalletdeM. deVend6me(16 10),2 ' and thenotebookof a Frenchdancingmaster ompiledbe-tween 1614 and 1619, which included diagramsforfive to sixteen22dancers rrangedngeometrical igures. Italianchoreographicracticealso reached ngland s wellasFrance. lsewhere have rgued hatEng-lish dancepractice xhibitedtronginkswith talianpractice s early s1 00,23 while vidence or heknowledgefFrench a'nce racticen En-24gland s found hroughouthe ixteenthnd seventeenthenturies.Inthis rticlemy rguments tothe imilarityndesign rinciplese-tween ance and thegrand ardensn taly, rance,ndEnglandfrom hefifteentho the eventeenthentury,spresentedhrough discussion f

"For a detailed iscussionfhowRonsardinparticular)escribedixteenth-cen-turyrenchourt ancing,hempacthenoble ancermade nthose resent,ndthefiguresf hedance tself:circular,ow ong nd then arrow,owpointed,s a trian-gle" ibid., 24).See bid., 09-41."Negri, -3.19Forbrief esume f he1573festivities,eeMcGowan, 994,196-97."McGowan has also edited facsimiledition fthe1581production,Le BaletComique'yBalthazareBeaujoyeulx.McGowan, 982)Formore nformationntheFrenchourt alletsrom581to1643, eeMcGowan, 963.21SeeMcGowan, 963,69-84for discussionf he1610ballet.22Walls,123. Formore nformationn thedancemaster'sotebook,eeWard,115-16.23Nevile, 998a.See alsoFallows,-7.24 For dditionalnformationn the xtentfFrenchnd taliannfluencenEng-lishdancepracticenthe arlyeventeenthentury,eeWalls, 10-12 nd221-24.Forinformationnthe resencef he ance reatisesfCaroso ndNegrinEnglanduringthe eventeenthenturyee, mithndGatiss.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 809thefundamentalesignprincipless they ppliedto botharts:first,heordered nd measured ature fgardensnddance; econd, hegeometricshapesorfiguresreatedbybotharts; hird hatthese hapeswerecon-structed o beviewedfrombove, ndfourth owbothcourtdanceandprincelyardens unctioneds anexpressionfthepower ndauthorityfa ruler r noble.The secondhalf fthe rticleoncentratesn the hangeswhichtookplace in theseventeenthenturynbothgardendesign nddancepractice.n particular,tfocuses n thequestionofwhen did thecc " French tyle fgarden esign rrivenEngland ntheearly even-teenth entury,nd whatthe answer o thisquestiontellsus about thetype fdancesperformedycourtiersn theJacobeannd Stuartmasques.

ORDER, MEASURE, AND GEOMETRICAL FIGURESAboveall,theRenaissance ardenwas orderedndmeasured. hrough twas expressed he nteractionf the artificial ulture reatedbyhumanbeingswiththenatural culture" reated yGod. Natureas a reflectionofthe cosmicorderwas seenas inherentlyrdered,nd so in thegardenthe rt f mankind adto

"imitate otonlynature's utward ppearance,but alsoitsunderlyingrder.""This underlyingrderwas understoodobe renderedmoreperfect ythe cultivation fthetrees ndplants nthegarden, nd in theadditionofsculpture, rnaments,waterfeatures,mounds,and grottoes.n thetopiarywork, abyrinths,s seen in theVilla d'Este (fig. 1) and in trellis onstructions, aturalmaterialsplants,vines,and trees werecultivated ntogeometric iguresikespheres rpyramids,r into hapesreminiscentfsculptureike hipsor

humanfigures,r ntonaturalhapes ike nimals.One fifteenth-centurygardens described shaving opiaryntheform f"ships, emples, ases,giants,men,women,dragons, entaurs,utti, arious nimals ndbirds,jousters, hilosophers, pope [and]cardinals."16nGiustoUtens's epic-tion ofthe Medicivilla at Castello,7 thesteps eadingup to thegardenareornamented ith opiaryn the hapeofvases.Behindthese teps sahedge oppedwith topiary arapet,while t thetopof the econd,nar-rower lightfstairs retopiary belisks.Although he materials sedtoconstructhetopiarywork, r edificesikepavilionswerenatural, heirappearancewas not.The overwhelming mportance of order in fifteenthnd six-teenth-centuryardenswas the characteristichichdistinguishedhem25Lazzaro,8.21Ibid.,49.27The gardenwas begun n 1537, thoughUtens'spainting sfrom1599.



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810 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY

Vd.

----------J- 4 4 4

01

T.

FIGURE 1. 9tienne Dup6rac, Villa d'Este, 1573. (By permission of the BritishLibrary,Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Maps 15.D.28.)from hegardensfearlier enturies.t is also the haracteristichichbinds hem o otherrtisticndeavoursf heRenaissance,uch spaint-ing, rchitecture,ndpoetry,s well scartographynd theatreesign.Forexample, he nfluence fsymmetryn Renaissance hought an beseen nthecartographers'trong onviction hat he unknownandmassof the southernhemispherewould have to equal that of the northernhemisphere. imilarly,nthemapsof GerardMercatorI 595) andAbra-ham Ortelius I 570) there s a verticalymmetryetween he andmassoftheOld Worldand that f theNew.21One of the most nfluential umanists n thedevelopment ftheRenaissance ardenwasLeon Battista lberti. round1450 hepresentedhis treatise n architecture,e ReAedificatoria, hich ncludedcom-ments on gardens,9 to Pope Nicholas Wo After t was finished tcirculatednmanuscriptopies, ndRykwerteels hat tcould haveevenbeen translatednto talianbefore t was printedn 1486." Lorenzode'

"See Gillies,4-35 nd166-67. ormore etails n the nterrelationshipsetweengardensnd the heatre,eeAdams,3-73.29Alberti,988,300.30Rylcwert,vi.31Ibid., viii-xix.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 811Medici (alsoa choreographer)ada copyofwhichhewasvery ond, ndwas noteagerto lend itto Borso d'Este when the atter equested t in1484. When the bookwasprinted woyears ater,heets f theprintededitionweredelivered o Lorenzo s soonas they ame off hepress.An-othermanuscript opywas finishedn 1483 for he Duke ofUrbino,Federico da Montefeltro.3' Translationsnto French nd Italian werepublishedn 1553 and 1546 respectivey,33 and Alberti's emarks n gar-dendesignwere tillbeingrepeated ttheend ofthe ixteenthentur. 34One ofAlberti's entral ointswas that hegardenwastheconcern fthe architectustasmuch as thehousewas,because thesamegeometric35figureshould be employedngardens s inbuildings. The same termswereused ngardeningndarchitecture,nd it was notan accident hatthegreatgardendesignersf the fifteenthnd sixteenth enturieswerealso the famous rchitectsf theday;for xample,Francesco i GiorgioMartini, Giuliano da Sangallo, and Bramante. In the designs ofFrancesco i Giorgio,for xample, hecompartmentsf thegardens re36very imilar o therooms f thehouses. The ordered ndcompartmentalizedgardensn sixteenth-centurytalyoftenresembled heplansfor

31idealcitieswhich ppeared t thesame time.While therewere tronginksbetween rchitecturendgardende-sign,Alberti's therwritings uggest onnectionswiththeartof dance.His treatise n painting, ella Pittura,ppeared n an Italianversionn1436,3' and isvery imilar nphilosophical utlookto the fifteenth-cen-tury ancetreatises,heearliest fwhich sbelieved ohave been writtencirca1430 to 145 .39It is notsurprising,herefore,hat heprinciples hichAlberti elin-eated nregardo thecreation fa garden lso appliedto the creation f"Ibid., xviii."Ibid., xix.14Forexample, n thegardeningreatisesyGiovanvettoriooderini,writtenn the1580s and 1590s,theauthorrepeatsAlberti'swords almost erbatim." azzaro,45.15Alberti, 988, 300.3'Lazzaro,44.3'As Lazzaro has observed he BoboligardennFlorence begun1550) resembles hecityplanin PietroCattaneo's reatise ublished n 1554. Ibid.,44.3'Alberti, 956.39It is difficulto datepreciselyhefifteenth-centuryancetreatises,s they ll existonly nmanuscriptorm ndonlyone isdated and signedbythe cribe. or a summary fthe various theories s to the dates of the dance treatises ee Nevile, 1992, 61-67, and

Clough,241-269. For more detail on the similarities etweenAlberti's reatise n paint-ingand thefifteenth-centuryancetreatises,eeNevile, 1991, 3-12.



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812 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYchoreographies.n theprologue o histreatise,40ne ofthefifteenth-cen-turydance masters,Guglielmo da Ebreo, spenta greatdeal of timeexplainingowthe rt fdancing roceeds romhe rt fmusic, ndhowthe ssential ature fmusicwas the tudy fproportionndrelation. orthe ducated fthefifteenthenturyasfor hose f theMiddleAges)theperfectrtwas one in whichrational orm ndproportion ere xpressedsimultaneouslynsoundandmovement; hat s,poetrywhichwassungand danced.Thus theartofdance ntheRenaissancewas also created nprinciplesforder ndproportion: proportioningf thedancespace:aproportioningf themovementsf thebody, nda proportioningfthemusic. The resultanthoreographieseflected hisorder n theiruse ofgeometrichapes squares, traightines), ndintheir se ofspace.Ingardensheorderwasnotonly xpressedhrougheometricormsoftheornaments,utalsothroughheuse of bilateral ymmetry,he en-tralpathswhichbisected ach other t rightngles, he trees lanted nstraightines, nd thegeometryf the ompartments,llofwhich reateda strong ectilinearharacter. tens's iew of theMedicivillaL:Ambrogi-ana (begun after1587) clearlyshows the wide central avenue withsymmetricalnits n either ideof t. Seefig. .) Notonlydoeseach com-partment ave tsowngeometricalpace,buteachsection s divided ntofour uarters.ven the arge rees n thebedsat thebackof thegarden replantednstraightines.The four uartersndbilateral ymmetrysalsoclearlyhown nthe1573 engravingf theVillad'Este fig.1)."Therearemany ther ardens romRenaissance uropewhich ouldhavebeenchosen o llustrateheordered ndgeometricalature fgardendesign.One ofthemostfamous sthebotanical arden tPadua,42 hichwasdesigneds a squarewithin woconcentricircles,heformereingdi-vided ntofour mallerquares y woperpendicularentral aths. hefoursmallerquareswere hemselvesividedntotriangular,ircularndsquarebeds,while hetriangularhapewas alsoformedythe ight egmentse-tween he rcof he nner irclendeach ideof hefour mallerquares. nearly escriptionf thisgardenwrittenytheVenetianMarcoGuazzo in1546emphasizesheuse of these hree rincipal eometric igures.43

"Ebreo, 1463. For a translation f this reatise,heonlyone to be dated,seeSparti,1993."For more detailson the talians'preferenceorsquare,quartered ompartments,seeCoffin, 991, 174-75.4'For more nformation n thegarden t Padua see AzziVisentini,Terwen-Dioni-sius,and Minelli.43For a modern edition ofGuazzo's descriptionof thegardenat Padua, see AzziVisentini, 50-53.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 813

FIGURE . GiustoUtcns, illaUAmbrogiana,599.Florcncc, uscoStorico-Topograficoircnzcom'cra.

FIGURE3. Dctail of UAmbrogiana.lorcncc,Musco Storico-TopograficoFircnzcoacra.In thegrandgardens he concernfor traightines and regular co-metrichapes xtended romhe argest esignunitsdownto the mallestcomponents,s can be seen nthe detailof thegarden tUArnbrogiana.(See fig. .) The beds,whichwerefilledwithfloweringlants f differentcolorsand shapes,weredividedagainintosquares, ircles, riangles,lldelineatedbypaths.These pathsnotonlyhelpedto reveal hedesign



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814 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYthrough he contrast etween heir evelground nd theslightlyaisedbedofplants, utthey lso allowed hecompartmento be entered."

The similarityetween hepatternsf thecompartmentsnd thoseofthechoreographies an be illustrated ycomparingthegardenatUAmbrogiana ith he ixteenth-centuryalletto,olceAmoroso oco. nthisdancefor hree ouplesthemen stand na line downone sideoftheroom,the adiesfacing hemdownthe other ide. The first artof thedanceemphasizes hestraightineswithall themovement eing alongtheoriginal xesor an axisperpendicularo it,createdwhen thecoupleschangeplaces. This is illustratedyfig. .) The secondhalf f thedanceis a haywhichcreates atternshat re thoseofthecompartments.hemiddle ouplestart hehayandchangeplaceson theperpendicularxis.They then movediagonally o changeplaceswiththe ast woman andfirstman.Theythenmovealongtheoriginal xisto changeplaceswiththeremainingwo dancers. The pathcreated s shown n fig.6.) Thispath svery imilar othose nthetop eft ompartmentffigure. Aftersixsteps ll thedancers re na straightine across hewidthof thehall.The haycontinuesn a straightine,with achchange fplacecreatingcircular igure ound nthetopright ompartment. olding right henlefthands alternately,ach couple traces a 90 degreearc to createastraightinealongthe ength f the hall.Duringthe next tepthey raceanother 0 degree rc to complete heirhalfofthe circle nd to formstraightine across hewidth f thehall. See fig. .)One of themajorcontributingactorso theordered, ectilineara-ture ftheformal ardenswasthe use of the quare.The compartments,whileoftenhavingcircular ormswithin hemwere nvariablyquare.This shapewas furthermphasized ytheplanting f arge reesneachcorner f thecompartment,s in the Villa Petraia nd L:Ambrogiana.(See fig. and fig. .) This characteristicf theRenaissance arden lsofound xpressionnthepatternsreated ythedancers s they rogressedthrough he fi uresof a dance. For exa' ple, thefigure f a squaredelin-9 meatedbya dancer teach cornerwas a commonformationnRenaissancedance,either s an initial attern,r as a formationept hroughouthedance.Forexample,Negri's alletto,a Battaglia,s a dancefor wocou-pleswhichbegins nd ends na square.This dance also contains everalhays nwhichthesquaredissolvesnto a straightine,thenback into asquare, hen nto lineagainbut on anaxisperpendicularothepreviousone. (See fig.8.) Oftenthechoreographymphasized hepattern ftheCCsquaredcircle";for xample, hefifteenth-centuryallo,Anellobegins

44Lazzaro,37.



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FIGURE 4. Giusto Utcris, Villa Petraia, 1599. Florence, Museo Storico-Topografico Firenze corn'era.with the two couples facing one another in a square. The whole danceconsists of the four performers changing places and moving around theoutside of the other couple to create circles.Furthermore, in the choreographies the harmony and proportion ofthe straight walks of espaliered fruit trees or yew were transmuted intothe long, forward-moving floor tracks of the fifteenth-century balli andbassedanze, and the common circular figure which was often interspersedwith the rectilinear patterns. (I am referring here to the figure which iscreated when a couple takes left or right hands and they move aroundeach other tracing out a circle as they go.) One example of this type of,floor pattern is the bassadanza Lauro (which was choreographed byLorenzo de' Medici). (See fig. 9.) Many of the bassedanze and balli sharethis type of floor pattern. Figure 9 shows the starting position of the twoperformers and the path they traverse during the course of the dance. Inthis particular dance the couple only move forward, with a pause in themiddle of the choreography to describe a circle. The floor track is verysimilar to the gardens with their long, straight, central avenue, often in-terspersed with a circle around which the four compartments arearranged; for example, the Medici villa Petraia (fig. 4) or the Medici villaPoggio a Caiano.



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816 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYml

Starting position ofM2 W2 the danceM3 W3

Mi -- ----- WiChanging places

M2 W2M3 W3

FIGURE 5. Dolce AmorosoFocoMI N WI2

3

23

2W3

FIGURE 6. Dolce AmorosoFoco: First three changes in the hay.x

3 2

2

FIGURE 7. Pattern created by the hay in a straight line along the width of thehall in DolceAmoroso- Foco.



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AA Dt M CtC

FIGURE 8. La Battaglia: Pattern created by a hay for 4 in a square.

VVomanFIGURE 9. Floor Track of the b-assadanzaLauro.



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818 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYIn otherdancestheperformers ove forwardsndbackwards romthe tartingosition, utusually till nstraightines.AsClaudiaLazzaro

remarks:throughoutheRenaissance,centralvenue raversedhegarden,ftencovered ith pergola. . . Movementromne endofthegardeno theother,utnot xcursionso eitheride wasencouragedy uch naxis.5In thebassadanzaLauro,the twoperformers ove from ne end ofthedancespaceto theother,with nly few mall excursionso eitheride"with heriprese.ne shouldnotethat wo of thefour roups fsidewayssteps ccur n the entral ircularpace, reated y he oupletaking andsandwalkinground ach other. hushalf f the idewaysmovementsreused toreinforcehecirclenthemiddle f the ong, traightath.

LOOKING DOWN AND LOOKING OUTAnother mportant esignprinciple fbothRenaissancegardens ndcourtdance sthatbothweremeant obeviewedfrombove.

Texts rom he ifteenthenturyndparticularlynthe ixteenthepeatedlystresshat he rdern a gardenmust evisible,rimarilyromhighpot,as thepatternsn thegardensf imples ere est iewed romhepalacewindows. . . But evenfromtshighestoint, heorderingf a gardenthroughhe epetitionf ompartments,eometricigures,vals,ndhip-podromesould ot ewhollyperceivedftomithinmy mphasis].aintedand ngravediews fgardens.. presenthatsnot isible rom ithin46nature rderedhroughegularnits.The patternsf thedanceswere lsodesigned o be seenfrombove.At aball thedancing ookplaceon thefloor fthehall, ndoften he adiesofthe courtwere eatedon raisedplatformslongone wall. In the atefif-teenth ndsixteenth enturies hendancingbecamea common featureof theatrical erformances,hedancingoften ookplaceon the floor fthehall withthekingorprince eatedon a raisedplatformo viewthespectacle.When the dances tookplace out ofdoorsmany spectatorswatchedfrom heupper-level indows fthebuildings roundthecitysquares.Thus,as inthegardens,hepatterns ouldnotbeentirelyisibletothoseon the dancespace,especially ot to theperformershemselves.The order f thewhole wouldonlybe visiblefrom bove.Thiswas cer-tainly hecase for heJacobeanmasquedances as theywereperformednot on theraised tagebuton the floor f thehall, urrounded n three

"Ibid., 80.'61bid., 0.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 819si'des ytheaudience.Not onlywouldthere othavebeenenoughroomon the front f a prospectivetageto adequatelyperform dance witheight,nine,twelve, r sixteen articipants," utwithmostofthe audi-ence seatedalongthe sides of thehall at right nglesto thestageandfacingn towards he central pace,thedancedportrayalf nitials ndgeometricigures ouldhavebeen difficultor hem operceive.In thefifteenthnd sixteenth enturies hechoreographieserede-signed to be viewed fromall sides. The audience, who were oftenperformers,atched he dance from loseby likethewindows f a pal-ace), or fromwithin hedancespaceitselflikea mount nthegarden).Thus their ttention asfocused n a finitepace,with learboundaries.The performers'ttention asalsofocusedwithin hedancespace.Whiletheywould not haveignored heirfellow ourtiers tanding r sittingaroundthem, heir ttentionwas stillwithin confined pace,notfo-cusedon a distant ista.The gardens fthe Renaissancemostoften peratedwiththesamefocalpoint.The boundaries f thegardenwerealso clearlymarkedbyhedgesorwalls. The space they ccupiedwas not arge,unlike he aterseventeenth-ndeighteenth-centuryardens: thewholewasmeasurableandfinite.8 One's attention asfocusedwithin hegarden, ither ook-ingdown on thecompartments,rwithin hecompartmentshemselves,oralonga trellisedvenueto a grotto rfountain.9Gardens ncreasednsize n the eventeenthentury,ndthebasisoftheir esign hanged.No longerwere hegardens rganizedround col-lectionofsmallcompartmentsnclosedwithin wall or a hedge.Thetwoto three oothedgesofthe sixteenthenturyncreasednheight nthe eventeenthenturyo that heirwall-like imensions ontrolledheviewwithin hegardenfarmore nd worked oprevent perception ftheorder ndorganizationf thegarden s a whole. ' From heir antagepointof the first loor f thehouse,or a raised errace,heattention fthevisitors ameto be focusedesson thepatterns ithin he mmediate

"Based on fifteen earsexperienceofperforminghesixteenth-centuryalletti,would estimate hattheaverage pace needed to perform choreographyormorethansixperformersould be twenty-oneeetbyfiftyeet."Ibid., 70."While themajority fRenaissance ardenswereconstructed iththis nternal o-cal point, therewere exceptions.Gardens such as theVilla Madama at Rome wereconstructed o thattheir ocuswas towards distant bjectsuch as a mountain. wouldliketothankProfessor offin ordrawingmy ttention o theexistence fthesemoreun-usual Renaissance ardensnwhichthe focuswasoutsidethegarden tself.5OLazzaro,76.



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820 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYforegroundndmoreon a distant ista,which,while tillpart f thegar-den,wassituated t theendofthewidecentral venue thatdominatedtheentire arden.In the ate sixteenth nd early eventeenthenturies ance increas-inglymovedontoa stage,whichmeant hat ne sideonlywas thefront,and that the focusoftheperformers'ttentionhad to be directed utfrom hedance space intothebodyofthe hall. The performers ere"lookingout" from hestage nto thedistance, s theywere no longersurrounded,r n closeproximityo their ellow ourtiers.he audiencewere lso furtheremoved rom hedancing.Theytoo werelooking t afardistant ista o see thedance,as perspectivehannelled heir azeto-wards certain oint.The effect hatchanging he nature f thedancespacehad on thechoreographic atterns an be seen bycomparingEmilio Cavalieri'sballo,0 chenuovomiracolo,or hefinalntermedionthe1589weddingcelebrationsftheGrand Duke Ferdinando e' Medici and Christine fLorraine,with hesocialdancesof atesixteenth-centurytaly. he floorpatternsnCavalieri's alls arevery imilar othosefoundnthecontem-porary ourtlyocialdances.Cavalieri sedcommonpatternsuchasunatrecciaruna intrecciataa hay), wo eguitin volta inwhich achdancercreates small ndividual irclebyturning roundone shoulder rtheother), wodancers oming ogetheromeet ndtakehands nd then ochangeplaces,and a "figure f8" patternnwhichdancersfirst irclearound hedancernext othem, nd then round hedancer n theothersideof them.1

The maindifferenceetween hefloor atternsn 0 chenuovomira-colo nd themajorityf the ocial dances sthat ntheformerheactionha's o takeplaceon a flat lane nfrontf thearc ofsevendancers,withthe focusbeingoutwardsnonedirection;hat s,towards heaudience.The square,orrectangular,atternsnwhichthefocus nd interactionbetween heperformersre nwardooking2 are notpresentnthisballo.Manyofthesocial dances for ne coupleare builtarounda patternofthetwodancers acing neanther,ne at the foot nd oneat theheadof thehall.The dancers henparade nfrontfeachother,ometogether

"For an extended iscussion fCavalieri's allo, eeNevile,1998b and 1999."One exampleof a social dance which s entirelyuiltaround.these atternss theballetto, a Battaglia. Negri,257-63) As the namesuggests,hisdance is a mock battlefor wocoupleswith the womenpitted gainst he men.The floorpatternsoncentratetheattentionwithin hesquareformed ythefourdancers,with themovementsbeingmainly round theperimeterfthesquareormoving cross he nterior f the quare, i-therdiagonally r on one or other f thetwoaxes.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 821andchange laces, ften everalimes, uringhedance. ndances ormore han wo likeDolceAmorosooco) he ouples ormwo ines ndface ach ther neitheride f hehall.Thecreationf square,rtwolines, fdancerssnotpossible,rat east otdesirable,hen dance stransposedoa prosceniumtage.Rather han artnershanginglacealong perpendicularxis hedancersnCavalieri'sallo re llstartingfacinghe amedirection.hey hen ave o move orward,way romthe rcformation,eet,hange laces,nd hen eturno the rc otheyallface hefrontf he tage gain t the ndof he tep equence.

SPLENDOUR, POWER, AND" DIVINE EFFECTS"The court ances ndthegrand ardensftheRenaissance ere othusedbyprinces,opes, nd cardinalss expressionsftheirplendourandpower." heexpensendthe abor fdesigning,uilding,lanting,andmaintaininghese ardens asenormous,ndthus heywere nlyavailableoa few.1 While mall rivateardensboundednRome s ex-tensions f the ndoor iving pace,5 it wasonly the avish ardenscreated or hepopes, he ardinals,ndthenoblefamilies.. that x-pressled]he ntellectualonceptsecessaryor he onsiderationfthegardensawork f rt."56Contemporaryescriptionsftheprincelyardensecognizedheirfunctionsadisplayf he owerf ts wner. or hese isitorshe rderandcontrolxertedver heplantife ndover heforcesfwaternthefountainsndgrottoes,nd xhibitednthe arden erexemplarsf heprince'sominionnotherspectsf ife.twas s f he streamsespond"In today'sommonsagehewordsmagnificence"nd splendour"re ftensedinterchangeably.n the ixteenthentury,owever,here as distinctionadebetweenthem.n the1490s heNeapolitanumanistiovanni ontano rote wo reatises,neon "Magnificence"nd one on "Splendour."n these wotreatisesontano ays hat((magnificence"pplies o arge,ubstantialndpermanentrojectsuch shouses ndbuildings.Splendour"eferso more ransientbjects, rivateollections,urnishings,clothes,ndgardens.ormore nformationn this istinctioneeCoffin, 982, spe-cially 13-14. would ike othank rofessoroffin or ointingutthis istinctionome. 54For descriptionfhow he lectoralatine,rederick,expressedispowernddominionnhisgardentHeidelburgastle createdetweenuly 614and October1619)seeZimmerman,7-118.55SeeCoffin,991,3: "Themedieval ocumentsfthe aleor easeofhousesnRome,fterrieflyefininghebuilding,ollowhe tatementlmostnevitablyith henotarialormula'withhegardenehindt."'56Ibid., .



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822 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYto thecallof theirord,plants pring p athisbidding.""Another xam-ple isgivenbyLionelloPuppi,who comments:

Is] rviving escriptionsfthegardens egun n 1487 forAlfonso fAragonatPoggioReale,nearNaples,make tvery lear .. that heywere aid outspecificallyocelebratehewealth ndprivilegesf their wner nthe mostspectacular aypossible, nd that hat ntailed he use of artificiallementsand ingenious echnical evices fevery onceivable ind."Dance also functioned as an expressionof the authorityand power of aprince." The rules and postural codes of courtlydance were part of themechanismsbywhich the court made itselfappear above and inaccessibleto the rest of society.The courtiers believed that theirsuperioritywas tobe demonstratedto the restofsociety bythe different ay in which theymoved,walked, danced, and even stood in repose.Their carriageand de-meanour when on thedance floor did not change once theyhad finisheddancing: it remainedwith them as itwas theirnormal posture.Because of its "magnetismand powerfuleffect,"dance was an inte-gral part of the spectacles organized for the important state occasions:visitsby foreignprincesor ambassadors, wedding celebrations,calendri-cal feasts, and entries by the ruler." At many of these occasions theperformerswere the courtiers themselves. For example, at the celebra-tions held in Naples in May 1473 to honour Eleonora d'Aragona beforeshe lefton herwedding journeyto Ferrara, tands with a capacityto holdaround twenty housand people wereerectedalong thesides of the Piazzadell'Incoronata. In the centerof the square a stagehad been built fortheKing of Naples, the court, and his guests. It was Eleonora herself,notprofessionaldancers, who began the dances on the stage in frontof theassembled populace. 6' As Graham Pont has remarked:

Mance was notonly n essential artof aristocraticducation nd courtlybehaviour;talsoprovided code of social emblems nd a language f cos-mic metaphorswhich werepartof the Renaissanceworld-view.To theRenaissancemind,nurtured n Plato, well-conductedifewasessentiallynoble dance. 2"Comito, 42.58Puppi,50.5'For one exampleof howdance functionedn thisway none specific ity, ee thestudybyTeofiloF.Ruiz on the Castiliancity f ae"n.6OMcGowan, 985, 219.6Talletti, 272-73.62Pont,118. Pont adds in a footnote hatone of Plato'swords for uneducated" sCCachorentos that s,"danceless" Ibid., 124).



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 823A "nobledance"was more han ntertainmentranagreeablewayofpassing he timeat a social function.As McGowan explains t was theCCmovements nd thegeometric atterns" hatmade Renaissance ourtdance"bothgracefulnd more ignificanthan simple ocialritual. hepatternsnscribedn thefloor f theballroom rstagewerenothaphaz-ard;theyhad divineeffects."13hesewerethe samegeometric atternswhich werepresent n the formal ardens nd whichwere also seenashaving moral ffectn thosewho walked hroughhem.As LuciaTon-giorgi omasicomments: thegeometricorms hichrecur o frequentlyin thesedesigns or lant-beds shapes uch as the quare traditionally

a symbol fearth ndits lements),hecircle a symbol f heaven nd di-vinity),heregular olygons,ndthetrianglea symbol ffire) hadtosustain omplex astrological nd magical-esotericonnotations."4 Forexample, n 1623John aylor isited hegarden tWilton,whichhede-scribed s:circular,riangular,uadrangular,rbicular,val, ndevery ay uriouslyand chargeably onceited: therehe hathmadewalks,hedgesandarbours.. plantinghemndplacinghemn uch dmirablert-likeash-ions, esemblingothivinendmoralemembrances,mymphasis]s threearbourstandingn a triangle,avingach recourseo a greaterrbournthemidst,esemblehreenoneandone nthree.5

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURYThechangeswhich ccurredngardeningesignn the eventeenthenturyhappened lowly,ndatdifferentimesndifferentlaces.Justs indance,the mpetusnd nnovationhifteduringhis enturyromtaly oFrance,thoughnboth rts heFrench ractitionersearnt romhe ixteenth-cen-turytalianpractices.As mentioned boveone ofthemajorchanges ngarden esign uringhe eventeenthentury as the ncreasensize.'6Thehouse ndgardenwere egardeds oneunit,with hegardenaid out so thatitwas seen tbest dvantagerom single iewpoint.7 Thegeometricom-partmentsfflowershangedntoparterresfbox, ndthepatternsnthesebeds lso underwentradical lteration. onewere he quares, ircles,ndhexagons,ndthe rectilinearharacterf thecompartmentesigns. he

61McGowan, 1985, 224.6'TomasiTongiorgi, 12.65Strong, 22.66When LouisXIII startedworkon Versailles t wasonlya few cres n size,butby1668 thegardenshad grown o coveroverone hundred cres.6'Thacker, 35.



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. . ... .......

FIGURE I 0. Aparterrede brokie design fiomJacques Boyceau's Traiddujar&-nage, 1638. (By permission of the Britishlibrary, Traid duja?&nage, 450-1.1 -)French parterres were curvilinear, composed of T-shaped curves, ara-besques, arcs, and embroiderya-like scroll patterns, as illustrated by thegarden at Vaux-le-Micomte, a and one of the designs for a pane?-?vde bmde-rie fromJacques Boyceatis Traiti du ja?&nage, of 1638 (fig. 10) -In his 1652 posthumously published treatise, Th&Mtredesplans etjar&-nages, Claude Mollet claimed that he was the firstperson to introduce thenew parterresde bro&rie to French gardens.' One of the earliest gardens inwhich we know this occurred is the palace at Fontainebleau, renovated byClaude Mollet in the 1590s under the instructions of Henry IV. A generalplan of the palace and gardens from cir'ca 1600 has survived, which showthat the beds were still laid out in geometrical patterns. In 1614, however,another plan was made of Fontainebleau by Alexandre Francini. In this de-sign all the parterres are of the new scroll-like designs. The geometricshapes of the previous century have gone.'o Further evidence to supportthis time-frame for the introduction of the new parterres is given by thegarden designs published by Olivier de Serres in 1600, TbM&e Xagn'cul-ture, in which the designs are still predominantly geometric. 71The introduction of these new designs for the parterres was not uni-versal during the first ten to fifteenyears of the seventeenth century. Evenin France the older patterns still persisted. For example, in the book ofgarden designs published in 1629 by D. Loris, Le Thresor des Parterres deWnivers, the parterre patterns are square in their proportions and'The gardentVaux-le-Vicomteas reatedyAndr LeMm between656and1661.For srael ilvestre'sngravingfthis ardenandthe entralarterres)eeHob-house, 68.

6'Karling,.70Ibid., 0.71Ibid., -9.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 825stronglyesemble he ixteenth-centuryeometric esigns ather han he12seventeenth-centuryrenchembroidery atterns. In ItalythenewFrench esignsndconceptswereparticularlylowto beadopted.Forex-ample, in Francesco Pona's treatise f 1622, R Paradisode'Fiori, hestronglyecommends hat fthere s a choice, hen hegarden houldbearrangedn "four erfectquares,)73 the tandard ormat f thefifteenth-andsixteenth-centuryardens.The radical hange n thepatternsmployedngarden esigns ftheseventeenthenturys echoed nthechangewhichoccurredn thepat-terns reatedbythe French horeographersf the seventeenthentury,particularlyn thedancescreated orLouisXIV's court t Versailles. herectilinear loorplans vanished as the courtiers racedout thesamesweepingurves ndarabesques oundn theparterresutside hepalace.Figure I is thenotation f theregularminuet,whichwasusedtoopentheballs atVersailles uring hereign f LouisXIV. Both the differencebetween t and the floorplansof thesixteenth-centuryalletti,nd the74similarityith heparterresebroderie,requitestriking.It is interestingo note thatustas the talianswerereluctanto em-bracethe newgardendesignsfromFrance, o too weretheyhappytocontinueusingthechoreographictyle nd forms f Caroso andNegri.In 1630, longafter isdeath,Caroso'sNobilt,di Dame was re-issuednRome with the titleRaccoltadi varijballi. In circa 1620 G. Mancini,born ntoan upperclass Sienesefamily15 59), artcollector nd critic,and from1623 onwards hepapal physician,wrote short reatise ndance,Del OriginetNobilt,delBallo. The stepdescriptionshichMan-cini ncludes n hisworkresemblehoseof Caroso andNegri;that s,heis still oncernedwith he dancepractice fseventy ears arlier.75iMi_larly, t the same time as Mancini was writinghis treatise, udovicoJacobilliwrotedown on a fewpagesdescriptionsfdances ncludingspag-noletta,gagliarda nd a canario,danceswhich "he maywell have

"Thacker, 45.73Coffin, 991,174.74FigureI is taken rom ellom omlinson'sork, heArt fDancing,hichwaspublishedn 1735.Thedance s writtenna systemfnotation eveloped yPierreBeauchampnthe atter art fthe eventeenthentury.hesystem as firstsed npublicationsyRaoul-Augereuilletn hiswork, horigraphie,u Artde De'crireaDanse, ublishednParisn1700.Thus, swas he asewith he ance reatisesfCarosoandNegri,hewrittenecordsf he horeographiesotate practice hich ad existedfor ecades reviously.

75Sparti,995.



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826 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY_UAl S revlemiWor (;PP,,lM,(,

Muct.A It .4fAzw,,er

i 3 I IYi

ot6 W-


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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 827MASQUE DANCES AND GARDEN DESIGNIN JACOBEAN ENGLAND

If thenewstyle fgardendesignwasfirst sedin France ometimebe-tween1600 and 1614,when did thesedevelopmentsrrivenEngland,andwhatdoesthe nswer o this uestion ellusaboutthetype fdancesperformed ythecourtiersnthemasquesofJames's reign?Duringthefirst wodecadesofthe eventeenthenturyherewas re-newed nterestmongtheEnglishnobilitynremodellingndextendingtheir ardens. ublications ealingwith hedesign,ayout, onstruction,andplanting f maller ardensnd orchards ere lsopopular.8Most Ofthepublicationsreflectedardening ractice fElizabeth's eign,withtheirmphasis n enclosedgardensaidoutas a single quare, ubdividedinto fourquarters, r as a series ofsquaresall plantedwithdifferentknots."Evidencefromgardens econstructeduring hefirst ecade oftheseventeenthenturynd fromnewly onstructed ardens onfirmsthisviewthat hedesignprinciplesf theprevious entury ere till d-heredto. Forexample,the seriesofdesigns nd survey lansmade byRobert mythsonn 1609 indicate hat hepredominantorm fgardensat thistime were rectilinear.mythson's urvey f WimbledonHouseshowsthetotalarea divided ntoseparate ardens, ach laid out infoursquare compartments, iththe argest arden ndicated s plantedwith80knots. Smythsonlso recordedheadditionsmadetoSomersetHouse."Thisgarden had]a quatrefoilaid onto a divided quarefor tsgeomet-ricalbasis,thoughthis was merely hepreliminaryowhatbecame acomplex arrangementfknots,beds and emblematic evices.18' From1603 to 1610 SirWilliamRigdonbuilt houseandgarden orhimselftDowsby nLincolnshire. nce againthegroundplanforDowsby ndi-cates hat hepatternsf thecompartmentsereknots, nd that hetreesintheorchardwere obe planted na quincunx.2 The Frenchhydraulic

78GervaseMarkhampublishedbooks I and 2 of TheEnglishHusbandman n 1613and 1614, and theworkwaspublished gain n 1615, 1623, and 1635. WilliamLawson'sA New Orchard nd Garden irstppeared n 1618 and thenagain n 1623, 1626, 1631,1638, and 1648. It also appearedanothereight imesbetween1650 and 1695. ThomasHill publishedTheProfitablertofGardeningn 1568, and itwasregularlye-issued ntil1608. UnderthepseudonymDidymusMontainehe published hebook The GardenersLabyrinth1577) which also appeared again in 1578, 1586, 1594, and 1608, as well asfour imesbetween1650 and 1660.79Forexample, Lawson, 1983, 11-12.'OBrown, 30-3 1."'Ibid., 35.12Strong, 117-19.



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828 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYengineer alomon de Caus workednEnglandbetween1607 and 1613,firstn theemployofQueen Anne,and then forherson,the Princeof83Wales. Duringhistime nEnglandde Caus worked n thegardens tSomersetHouse forQueen Anne,as well as remodellinghegardens tGreenwich. n theWorksAccountsfor1613-1614 there s mention f84payments or aying utknots tGreenwich, a strongndication hatthepatterns ere tillgeometric.WiltonHouse,the eatoftheEarl ofPembroke, rovides clueas towhen henewFrenchtylewasadopted nEngland.From descriptionfthegardenn 1623 as "circular,riangular,uadrangular,rbicularand]oval, 181 it seems that hegardenwasgeometricnd rectilinear.n 1630PhilipHerbert nheritedWiltonon thedeathofhisbrother. rom1632to 1635 he had partofthehouse and thegardenrebuilt,with saac deCaus incharge fthework. enyearsater saacde Caus published seriesofplansofWilton, nd from hese lans t svery lear hat hefour om-partments hich ayunderneath he windowsof thepiano nobilewereparterresebroderie (fig. 12). From he urvivingvidence hegarden tWilton n 1635 appears obe the earliest xampleofan Englishgardenlaidoutaccordingothenewdesign rinciples evelopednFrance.The conclusion hat hetransition rom he trongly eometric en-aissance tyle o thearabesques f thebaroquefirst ccurrednEnglandin the1630s is confirmedyanother oyalgarden, tJames's alace. Itwas theFrenchgarden rchitect ndr -'Mollet who re-designedhegar-dens at StJames's alace from 629 to 1633 on the nvitation fQueenHenriettaMaria. A descriptionf thegarden,writtenn 1637,describespart fthegarden s consistingf"parterresfdifferentigures."87But it is notonlythe activities f men such as de Caus andMolletwhichreveal hehorticulturalassions f this ime.Formalgardens lsoappearin masque stagesets,and, notsurprisingly,hedescriptions fthese ardens arallel hedevelopmentsn the iving ardens f thenobil-ity. orthemasquepresented ythemembers fGray'snn inhonourofthemarriage fthe Earl of Somerset nd Lady FrancisHoward, The

"When PrinceHenrydied de Caus movedbackto theContinent,whereuntil1619he designed ndsupervisedhebuilding ftheHortus alatinus orhis ateemployer'sis-ter, rincess lizabeth,,and er husband the Elector fPalatine. bid.,74."Ibid., 96, 227 n. 39."Ibid., 122.16Ibid., 147-49.87Ibid., 188.



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FIGURE12.Engravingy saacdeCaus,Wilton arden,645. Bypermissionof heBritishibrary, ilton arden,4 .g.1 )MasqueofFlowers,n 6 January 614, theBanquetingHouse atWhite-hallwas transformednto:

a gardenfa gloriousndstrangeeauty,ast ntofour uarters, ithcross-walkndalleysompassingach uarter.. Everyuarterfthegar-denwasfinelyedgedboutwith lowhedge fcypressnd uniper;heknotswithinetwith rtificiallowers.. Ineveryornerfeachquarterwere reat ots fgilly-flowers."Twenty earsaterwhentheBanquetingHouse againbecame"a newand pleasantprospect.. showing deliciousgarden," heknotswhichhad filled achquarter advanished, eplacedwiththenew,fashionable89

parterres. On thisoccasion themasquewas Thomas Carew's ColeumBritannicum,erformedefore hecourt n 18February634; that s,atpreciselyhe ametime hegarden tWiltonwasbeingrebuilt y saac de

"SpencerndWefls,69.'90rgel ndStrong,.579.



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830 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYCaus.'OSimilarly, year arliernthecourtplay,TheShepherd'saradise,(1633) thedesignbyInigoJonesportrays garden n which thenew,French,croll-likearterresreclearly isible.1Ifgarden tylesnEnglandbegantochange o thenew French tylein the ate 1620s and early1630s,did the courtdancepractice ollowparallelpath?From thedescriptionsf themain-masque ances whichdo exist nthemasque-textshemselvestseems lear hat heearlymas-que dancescontinuedthepractices f the sixteenth entury. s PeterWalls notes:

[t]hosemasque escriptionshich ogobeyond rathereneralxpressionof nthusiasmorwhatwas eenndicatehat he ormationfgeometricalgroupingslayed prominentartnset-dancehoreography.2Samuel Daniel describes hefirst ance of the twelvegoddesses n hismasquefrom 604, a dancewhichtookplacein "themidst f thehall,"as "beingperformedwithgreatmajesty nd art,consistingofdiversstrains ramednto motions ircular,quare, riangular, ithotherpro-portions xceeding are nd fullofvariety."93n Hymenaei1606) andMasque ofQueens I 609) thedancersformed othgeometric atternsand alphabeticfigures.9'n thetext f one ofthesongs n themasque,The Vision fDelight1617) the dances are described s "curiousknotsandmazes"95 hus ndicatinghatnotonlywerethesedances oneswithgeometrical atterning,ut thatthe same wordswere used to describeboth thedancepatternsndthepatterns sed ntheformalgardens.OrazioBusino, he haplain otheVenetian mbassynLondon, eftan entertainingccountof theTwelfth ightmasquefor1618,Jonson'sPleasureReconciledoVirtue. he dance for hetwelvemaskedknightsstartedn theform fa pyramid,withthePrinceofWales alone at the

"As PeterWallspoints ut,Carewaccompanied irEdwardHerbert o Francewhenthe atterwas ambassador here rom 619 to 1624, and thereforehouldhavehad ampleopportunity o become acquaintedwith the latest n Frenchtaste, ncluding dancing(220).9'See Strong, 82-83.92WallS, 121.9'Spencer and Wells, 29-30.9"'Here, they daunced fortha most neate and curious measure, full of Subtilty andDeuice; which was so excellently performed, ... The straines were all notably different,some of them formed into Letters,very signifyingto the name of the Bridegroome" andcca more numerous composition could not be seene: graphically disposd into letters,and

honoring the Name of the most sweete, and ingenious Prince, Charles, Duke of Yorke."jonson, 8.220-21 and 315-16.9'Walls, 106. See also ibid., 121-23 for furtherdiscussion of the masque dances.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 831apex.The twelvehen hangedplaceswith ach other eforeoiningwiththe adiesfor he revels' ances.

They did all sorts of [ballettil and dances of every country,such as Passe-mezzi, correnti, anaries spagnolettej and a hundred other beautiful turnstodelight the fancy. Finally theydanced [la spagnolettalonce more with theirladies.'6FromBusino's ccountthe mainmasquedancewasbasedon geometricfigures,ndthe dances he namedfor herevels,hePassamezzo,orrente,canario,ndspagnolettare ll found nthe talianmanuals fCaroso andNegri.If the revels' dances for the 1618 masque appear to have been thosecurrent in Italy in the late sixteenth century, ten years later the fashionseemed to have swung in the direction of France. In 1628 BulstrodeWhitelocke was elected to the position of Master of the Revels for theMiddle Temple. In his account of the festivitiesfor the 1628/1629 Christ-mas season, Whitelocke lists the dances performed.

[I]n the evening the Mr entered the Hall, with about 16 revellers,properhandsome young gentlemen ... the Mr led them in his bar gowne with awhite staffe n his hand, themusique playingbefore them. They began withthe old measures, after hat theydaunced the Branles, then the Mr took hisseat, & the Revellersdaunced Galliards, Corantoes, & frenchdaunces, thencountreydaunces till it grewvery ate.9'

Instead of passamezzi or spagnolette, the members of the Middle Templedanced "the old measures . . . the Branles ... Galliards, Corantoes, &french daunces, then countrey daunces."From Whitelocke's description of the 1628/29 festivities, it appearsthat the list of dances does bear some resemblance to the order of the no-bles' dances performed at the French court balls in the early decades ofthe seventeenth century; that is, the suite of bransles, then the ceremonialdanses,4 deux, the courante, and the gaillarde and finally dances in whichpartners could be chosen at will. However, one must note here that giventhis brief description it is not possible to state definitively whetherWhitelocke's "galliards" and "corantoes" were the same dances as the gail-larde and courante described by Franois de Lauze in his treatise of 1623.

""[Flecero uttiesorti iballetti,tdanze,he icosturnanonqualsiuogliaaese,Ia mododepassamezzi,orrenti,anariespagnolette,t cento ltri esti atti pizzegomolto elli.Ballarono inalmenten'alla olta a spagnolettaon a sua Darna" OrgelandStrong,.281 nd283). Busino'sccountnda translationsquotednfulln bid.,279-84.97Quoted nWalls, 62.



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832 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLYThe late ixteenth-centurytaliandancetreatisesfCaroso andNegri, orexample,givemanyvariations or hegagliarda,whichdo not resemblede Lauze'sgaillarde."Similarly,hedance,La corrente,romNegri,"andthepantomimic orantos described yArbeau,100re notperformednthe amemanner s thecouranteyde Lauze.'O'In the French ourtballs of thefirst ecades of theseventeenthen-tury, he latterpartof theball often"providedthe occasion for thedancing f ively ewdances."02 While t snotpossible oidentifyhatwas meantbythe term french aunces" inWhitelocke's ccount, itseemsreasonableo assume hathe wasreferringo dances urrentlyash-ionable in France,and that these "french aunces"would be likethe"lively ew dances"performedt theendof the French ourtballs.Cer-tainly ythe1640s theEnglish ourtwasbeingridiculed or tsobsessionwithFrench ashions,ncluding ance.103Given theavailable vidence oncerninghefashionsnbothcourtdance andtheformal ardening ractices,tseems hatup to theearly omid 1620sthedances ntheEnglish ourtmasquefollowedhe tronglygeometrictyle fthe ate ixteenthentury.rom he ate 1620s onwardstherewas an increasing rench nfluencetcourt,which nthegardensresultedna change othearabesques f the eventeenth-centuryrenchstylendmaywellhavehad the ameresults regardshedancepractice.In this rticle haveargued hat herewere lose similaritiesetweenthe staticchoreographyf the formalgardensof thenobility nd themovingchoreographies erformed ythe members fthecourt. The

"De Lauze, 44-46. De Lauze's work s theonlyFrenchdance sourcefromArbeau'streatise f 1589 to Rameau'sMaitre danser f 1725, and in ithe has recorded he mainsocial dancesof theFrench ourt n theearlydecades of the seventeenthentury. oradiscussion f de Lauze's work ee Garlick.

99Negri,65-66."'Arbeau, 123-25."'De Lauze, 34.'O'Garlick, 82.103Forexample n a playcalled TheVarietieyWilliamCavendish,Earlof Newcas-

tle,thestyle fdancingat courtwas definitelyrench. n thisplay,performed rior o1642, gentlemen reportrayeds walkingwithturnout: andnowdeyvalkvid deir toesout forbravegenty, oucalldata de splayfoot." Cavendish,20) Fora discussion f thisplayand thepolitical limate n which t wasperformed,ee Butler, 95-98. The turnoutof the feetwhiledancing and walking)assumeda fargreatermportancen the seven-teenth enturyn France han thad in theprevious entury. orexamplede Lauze's firstprinciple f dance was the correctmannerofwalking, necessary omponentof whichwas the turnout f the feetDe Lauze, 27). Fora discussion n theimportance fthecor-rectmanner fwalking nthe seventeenthentury,eeGarlick,1 12-21.



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DANCE AND THE GARDEN 833principlesforderndproportionwhichmust evisible rombove),the xpressionf plendour,hegeometricalorms, ere undamentalprinciplesfbothRenaissanceourt ance ndtheformalarden. ur-thermore,hepatternsn both hesert orms eremeant obeviewedfrombove. hisclose imilarityndesign rinciplesetweenhehorti-culturalndkineticrts xistedighthroughhe ifteenthnd ixteenthcenturiesnd continuednto he eventeenthentury.herefore,iventhis imilarityndesign rinciples,ndthe videnceromhe mall um-berofdescriptionsfmasque anceswe do have, necanhypothesizethat hemasque ancesasopposed otherevels)ftheJacobeanourtmasques ere f he ame eometrictyle hichwas urrentn talyndFrance rom550onwards.hefloor lanswould erectilinear,ot ur-vilinear,nd thepatternsroduced ouldbegeometric,ith mphasisonsquares,riangles,ircles ithinquares,nd thediagonalsfrectan-gles rsquares. rom he ate1620s ndearly 630s,however,nglishcourt ance mitated ore loselyhe ontemporaryrenchractice,nwhich eometrichapes hangedoscroll-likeatternsnd S'-shapedcurvesndarabesques.UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES



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