|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This view in Kew Gardens with the humpback bridge and House of Confucius (in the background on the right) was taken from an engraving by Thomas Major after a drawing by William Marlow. The engraving was one of a set of view of Kew compiled by the architect William Chambers in 1763. By the early 1790s the degree of enthusiasm for the park exotica of Kew diminished somewhat. The vogue then was for all things sentimental and romantic. In 1790 the young Nikolai Karamzin wrote, "I visited once the famous Kew Gardens, the place that the present king tried to adorn in every possible way, but which in itself is not worthy of it, although descriptions call it an Eden. It is small, low-lying, without vistas. Chinese, Arabian and Turkish is mixed there with Greek and Roman. A Temple of Bellona and a Chinese pavilion; a Temple of Aeolus and a House of Confucius; and Arabian Alhambra and a pagoda!" |
||||||
Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
