Gardens of The Italian Villas
The garden is a place of pleasure, a feast for the senses, a respite for the soul. Shaping natural forms to man's plan has always challenged gardeners. These books deal with quite different approaches to this task. Agnelli's, a delight of timeless villas and vistas, is a reminder of both Italian Renaissance spirit and Baroque exuberance. The geometric and the lushly wild, the enclosed niche and the panoramic view are captured in splendid photographs and elegant prose. Each villa and garden belongs to its special place. Where the Italian garden is a "place...where flowers, trees, etc. are grown for delight," the materials of Rambach's Gardens of Longevity are stones. The gardens blend Chinese philosophy and Japanese aesthetic perceptions of the universe: symbolic re-creations of the ideal, in an effort to capture "essence" rather than formal representation. Whether restored or preserved unchanged for centuries, the message of the stone raiser remains, leading the viewer toward wisdom through the knowledge of beauty. An impressive work with historical facts as well as philosophic insights. Both books are recommended for large collections and the latter for scholarly ones as well. Paul Frosch, Metropolitan Museum Lib., N.Y.Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.