A PORTFOLIO OF VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS AND ETCHINGS OF ITALIAN GARDENS

EDITED BY JAMES O’DAY

UP AT THE VILLA A PORTFOLIO OF VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS AND ETCHINGS OF ITALIAN GARDENS

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Following in the footsteps of Edith Wharton and Charles Platt, four Landscape Fellows from the American Academy in Rome set about photographing noteworthy Italian gardens from the 16th and 17th centuries. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Ralph Griswold, Edward Lawson, Norman Newton, and Richard Webel compiled 950 images (12x18 cm) of these remarkable cultural landscapes. They eventu-ally were used in the Academy’s library card catalogue, hence the small hole seen on the bottom of each print.

Also in this album are a number of etchings by the British art-ist Mary Hogarth (1861-1935). While living in Rome, she skillfully rendered public and private fountains she found throughout Italy.

UP AT THE VILLA A PORTFOLIO OF VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS AND ETCHINGS OF ITALIAN GARDENS ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Cover: Untitled, Mary Hogarth, etching, circa 1913

Above: Villa Capponi, Arcetri, Tuscany

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Also known as Castello di Celsa, this ancient fortress was convert-ed into a palatial villa by its owner, Mino Celsi, in the 16th century. The Baroque terraced gardens were also laid out during this pe-riod. Architect Baldassare Peruzzi is attributed with designing the circular chapel. In 1802 the villa passed into the prominent Chigi family and eventually to the Aldobrandini princes in the early 20th century.

Villa Celsa, Soivicille, Tuscany

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Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola, Lazio

Designed by Giacomo Barozzi Vignola for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (later Pope Paul III) in the mid-1500s, this lavish summer retreat was built to commemorate the glory of the Farnese family. The Casino del Piacere (House of Pleasure), located in the garden and sited on the brow of a hillside, overlooks terraced parterres and the surrounding countryside. The Catena - water chain - de-scending the monumental flight of stairs is one of Vignola’s mas-terworks.

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Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola, Lazio

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Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola, Lazio

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Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola, Lazio

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Mary Hogarth, etching, circa 1913

Villa Mansi, Lucca, Tuscany

Designed by architect Maurizio Oddi for the Countess Cenami in 1634, Villa Mansi is evocative of the Lucchese Mannerist style. The Mansi family acquired the villa in 1675 and commissioned Fillippo Juvarra to redesign the gardens. Puccini is said to have written the first act of Tosca while summering at the villa in 1898.

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Villa Marlia Reale, Lucca, Tuscany

In 1651, the Orsetti family acquired Villa Marlia and substan-tially redesigned the gardens. Napoleon’s sister, Elisa Bonaparte, bought the villa and had the French landscape architect Jean-Marie Morel design additional gardens in the early 19th century. Villa Marlia was well known for its ornamental peschiera - a rec-tangular fishpond surrounded by a balustrade and dominated by allegorical figures representing the Arno and Serchio rivers.

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Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati, Lazio

The gardens of the villa were begun in 1598 and are notable for the Baroque waterworks designed by Orazio Olivieri and Carlo Maderno. The principal fountain originates at the vernal springs and cascades through the primordial woodlands. Flanked by monumental Pillars of Hercules, the canal’s terminus is domi-nated by Altas in the central niche, holding the globe.

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Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati, Lazio

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Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Lazio

Cardinal Scipione Borghese (Pope Paul V’s nephew) took pos-session of the villa in 1607 and commissioned Girolamo Fon-tana to embellish the waterworks. Architects Carlo Maderno and Flaminio Ponzio completed the Water Theatre at the base of the expressive flight of water stairs. John Singer Sargent painted watercolors of the fountains in the late 19th century.

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Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Lazio

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Villa Cicogna Mozzoni, Varese, Lombardy

Set among the foothills of the Viggiu Alps near Varese, the villa was originally a hunting lodge. The gardens were envis-aged by Ascanio Mozzoni around 1560, who was inspired by the Medici and papal villas. In addition to the walled formal parterres, the villa is known for its 16th century water stair-case that rises 156 steps to the summit of the hill and offers views from the belevedere of Lake Lugano.

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Villa Cicogna Mozzoni, Varese, Lombardy

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Villa Donna Dalle Rose, Valsanzibio, Veneto

In 1669, Venetian nobleman Zuane Barbarigo and his son Cardinal Gregorio (later Saint Gregorio) commissioned Luigi Bernini to execute the garden plan with allegorical meaning - man’s progress toward his own perfectibility and salva-tion. The villa stayed in the Barbarigo family for six genera-tions until passing to the Donna dalle Rose family in the 19th century and then onto the Pizzoni Ardemani family in 1929.

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Villa Lante, Bagnaia, Lazio

Cardinal Gambera originally commissioned Giacomo Barozzi Vignola to design this Mannerist garden in 1566. Following Gambara’s death, Cardinal Alessandro Peretti di Montalto continued the building scheme, employing the Sienese hy-draulic engineer Tommaso Ghinucci and landscape architect Pirro Ligorio to oversee the building of the elaborate water features. The villa’s principal waterworks include the Foun-tain of the Deluge, the Catena D’acqua, the Fountain of the Lamps, the Pegasus Fountain, and the Fontana dei Mori de-signed by Giambologna.

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Villa Garzino, Collodi, Tuscany

The gardens at Villa Garzoni were begun in 1652 by the Garzoni family on the edge of a precipice. Its gardens were linked by a series of balustraded terraces and a suite of grand staircases. A spectacular water cascade connects the hilltop villa to the water gardens at the base - creating a spectacular Baroque effect. The villa remained in the Garzoni family until the beginning of the 20th century.

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Villa Falconieri, Frascati, Lazio

The villa was originally known as Villa Rufina when Orazio Fal-conieri purchased the estate in 1628. Francesco Borromini and Antonio Sangallo made improvements to the villa and gardens. In 1907, the villa was bought by Baron Ernest Mendolsshon-Bar-holdy, who gave it to Kaiser Wilhelm II as a gift. At the end of the First World War, the villa was confiscated by the Italian state.

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Villa Vicobello, Siena, Tuscany

Known as Villa Chigi at Vicobello, Baldassarre Peruzzi de-signed this summer retreat in 1528 for the Chigi-Zondadari family. British scolars Sir Harold Acton and Sir Geoffrey Jel-licoe both lauded Peruzzi’s genius. The gardens are a series of eleven terraces and parterres laid out below the villa on the hillside - devoted to azaleas, orange and lemon trees planted in terra cotta pots. Edith Wharton admired the groves of Holm Oak surrounding the villa, describing the bosco as an “indis-pensable adjunct to the Italian country house.”

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Villa Mondragone, Frascati, Lazio

Built in 1573, Martino Longhi designed the villa for Cardi-nal Marco Sitico Altemps. Villa Mondragone takes its name from Pope Gregory XIII, whose dynastic heraldic symbol was a dragon. Later, Cardinal Scipione Borghese and Pope Paul V exhibited their impressive collections of Renaissance art and Roman antiquities there. Subsequent popes used the villa as a summer retreat until permanently decamping to nearby Cas-telgandolfo on Lake Alban. In 1858, George Sand was a guest at the villa and used it as the setting for her novel, La Dani-ella.

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Untitled, Mary Hogarth, circa 1913

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Untitled, Mary Hogarth, circa 1913

UP AT THE VILLA A PORTFOLIO OF VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS AND ETCHINGS OF ITALIAN GARDENS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to the Photographic Archives at the American Academy in Rome with whose kind permission I may exhibit these images for personal and educational purposes.

Photo Credit: American Academy in RomePhotographic ArchiveLandscape Architecture Collection

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