SYMBOLISM IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GARDENS: The Influence of Intellectual and Esoteric Currents, such as Freemasonry. Ed. Jan Snoek, Monika Scholl and Andrea Kroon OVN, The Hague, 2006. Hardback, 374 pages, f20.00. ISBN 90 807778-3-8.

This work is essentially a volume of transactions resulting from a conference that was held on the theme of symbolic gardens at Schwetzingen Castle in Germany in September 2006. The aim of the conference organisers was to challenge scholars to look at the intellectual, esoteric or masonic ideas, that might, or might not have, influenced European garden and landscape design during the eighteenth century. In analysing this somewhat neglected topic, this volume comprises sixteen essays (nine in English) which focus on a range of topics including, the symbolism of plants and planting, politics and masonic symbolism in eighteenthcentury Venetian architecture and garden design, and the influence of Freemasonry and esoteric ideas on Polish landscape gardens during the Enlightenment.
     The question of whether or not Freemasonry influenced eighteenth-century landscape and garden design is a controversial one, not least because it is difficult to separate that which is demonstrably masonic, and that which is equally attributable to a wider cultural milieu.
     Yet, as Professor James Stevens Curl points out in his essay on Symbolism in Eighteenth-Century Gardens, ‘many scholars, none of whom may be regarded as being of unsound mind, have looked at the matter in a sober and serious light, and have concluded that there are indeed, in certain instances, some sorts of connection or connections between Freemasonry and garden-design’ (p. 25). And while sceptics might hurriedly point out that there are no innate masonic symbols or ideas per se, as almost all of them have been commandeered from elsewhere, it would be quite extraordinary if at least some garden designers did not deliberately secrete arcane symbols or motifs in their creative offerings, just as Freemasons in other creative disciplines are known to have done. Indeed, one is reminded of the increased importance of gardens in the preceding century – together with such burgeoning cultural archetypes as the ark, the tower, and the temple.
     All in all, this is a welcome study and will almost certainly intrigue anyone with an interest in freemasonry, gardens, or the eighteenth century in general.

Matthew Scanlan