Landscape Design in Eighteenth-Century Ireland

Wisconsin Bookwatch, March, 2005

Landscape Design In Eighteenth-Century Ireland

Finola O'Kane

Cork University Press

c/o Stylus Publishing, Inc.

22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012

185918362X $75.00 1-800-232-0223

Landscape Design In Eighteenth-Century Ireland: Mixing Foreign Trees With The Natives is a fascinating, in-depth study of the eighteenth-century landscapes around Dublin and the gardens of the region, as well as the political, monetary, and aesthetic appreciation influences that led their owners to create them. Chapters focus especially upon Robert Molesworth's lanscape of Breckdenston, the landscape of Castletown House, Carton Demesne's work which introduced foreign trees, and the school at Frescati. Part environmental history, part narrative of the lives and decisions of wealthy individuals, part studious assessment of the ambitious large-scale projects that changed the nature of the countryside, Landscape Design In Eighteenth-Century Ireland is an absorbing and detailed scrutiny. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white as well as color images, paintings, diagrams and photographs, Landscape Design in Eighteenth-Century Ireland is virtually unique in its theme of discussion yet delves into its subject matter with such depth as to eclipse rival attempts.