ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that through two different kinds of publication, the Arboretum et Fruticetum and On the Laying Out, Planting and Managing of Cemeteries and on the Improvements of Churchyards, John Loudon the activist set out to reconfigure gardens in the public sphere as landscapes of enlightenment and as a means of social cohesion. The focus of the chapter will be his Arboretum and includes the Gardeners Magazine, set in the context of scientific and aesthetic publications and theory. It outlines the development of John Loudons notion of the Gardenesque and demonstrates the centrality of the printed image within the Arboretum. The chapter exemplifies the direct connections between politics and landscape planning. The principle of the recognition of Art was John Loudons way of retaining Quatremre De Quincys emphasis on the art of imitation, and to integrate the practice of landscape gardening within aesthetic discourse.