David Garrick and landscape gardening

Abstract

A rich and intriguing association exists between the theatre and the landscape garden. Of late, there has been a growing interest in the interconnection of the two,¹ and further study may well bring out the theatrical nature of many eighteenth-century gardens. There is certainly some common ground in the creation of illusion or a series of illusions, each of which presents a set piece for a particular effect. And at the time there were several who combined an interest in gardens and in the theatre. The intention of the present article is to demonstrate the enthusiasm ofone remarkable man of the theatre, David Garrick, both for practical gardening at his own villa and for the landscape gardens he visited.