Characteristics of English classical gardens

Chinese and British garden art from the law of art to the pursuit of aesthetic have many similarities. However, in essence, the Chinese and Western natural style gardens are still two completely different styles of garden art. In general, "nature" in these two gardens reflect different character, that is: Chinese gardens is a kind of inward nature, the British natural style is a kind of outward nature.

(I) from the specific form of the garden comparison

The difference between the two different arts, first of all in the specific art form. From the overall image of the garden and the overall atmosphere, classical Chinese gardens appear to be deep, secluded, the so-called "courtyard deep deep", "winding paths through the secluded". Classical Chinese gardens commonly used to enter the garden treatment is usually: just people in the garden door, face a rockery or a clump of bamboo, play a role in blocking the line of sight, so that people have a sense of anticipation and a sense of mystery. Afterwards, it is often a curved path (or curved corridor, curved bridge, etc. 1, curved path on both sides of the pink wall or for the forest, in such a semi-closed curve of the space through a period of time, and finally opened up, to a lake-facing open Xuan. This kind of tour line makes people have a strong sense of inwardness, as if they come from the outside world through a series of obstacles to a paradise that belongs to them only. And then from the open garden to look around the main court, although there is open water, but the water does not know where it comes from, only to see a mountain stream from a boulder behind the outflow, after a few turns into the lake, it seems that this mountain stream is originated from the distant mountain with a Buddhist temple. Then look around the lake, lush forests and bamboo, green trees, pink walls and gray tiles are hidden, but very clearly delineate the world inside and outside the garden. In such a garden environment, in addition to the fish and birds, you are left to yourself, and then you bend your head to chant oh, the sky long whistling, to express the deepest emotions to express their feelings, so that the grass and trees bowed down, the mountains and rocks, it seems that even a thousand years of cypresses, would like to send out a sigh of regret with you on the life. In general, the Chinese garden needs to be such a natural, it comes from nature, but it only belongs to you, it is a reflection of your inner mind, a grass, a tree, a mountain and a stone are drenched with your inner emotions. It is an inward-looking nature. Even a royal garden such as the Summer Palace in Beijing, although the spatial scale has been characterized by a public **** garden, but whether it is the towering walls, winding corridors, or quiet Suzhou Street, people feel that it is only a large-scale replica of the traditional private garden.

However, when you come to the Brown-designed Stowe Gardens or the Chambers-designed Mound Gardens, you will find that here, nature is another face, with large grassy slopes undulating along the natural topography, the outer edges of a patch of trees clearly defined, and the light-green grass under the sunlight setting off the trees in a very obvious manner. There are no walls here, so your eyes can roam freely with your mind. When you look into the distance, where the white clouds and the grassy slopes are about to meet, cows and sheep are grazing freely. There is also a large area of water here, but there is no barge at the water's edge, and the grassy slope naturally reaches into the lake at a beautiful angle. Everything is serene, but at the same time it seems cheerful, generous and peaceful. It is the image of a new farmhouse that developed rapidly during the capitalist revolution. In the English naturalistic garden, the expression of nature is extroverted, walls are strictly rejected, and dry ditches that also serve as irrigation become invisible spatial boundaries. In the era of the dominance of the Bronze style, even the dry ditch was canceled. Large sloping meadows became the main body of the garden, stretching to the base of the walls of the main buildings. Garden has no obvious distinction between inside and outside, private estates and nature as one, there is no longer a need for high walls and dense forests to close the garden in its own small circle. British natural style garden has this openness and public **** sex so that it shows the nature presents a kind of outgoing and cheerful character.

(2) from the garden function comparison

In the Chinese tradition of Confucianism "justice and light" under the influence of thought. Chinese gardens have always rejected the tendency of utilitarianism, although the construction of gardens have the purpose of rest and recreation, but due to the Chinese literati rest and recreation more and more towards the non-utilitarian tendency of the purely spiritual function, the goal of Chinese garden design has become more and more remote and meaningful. Chinese aesthetic theory as a whole has always lacked a reasonable understanding of the connection between "pleasure" and "benefit". The idea of pursuing material enjoyment has long been despised. Therefore, the function of Chinese gardens has always been a place of introspection and spiritual self-satisfaction for a few literati, and the material function has never become an important function of Chinese gardens. On the contrary, the English soon noticed the importance of turning gardens into places of utility, and beautiful gardens were at the same time places of public meeting, production bases for medicines, vegetables and flowers, and pastures for cattle and sheep ....... This idea of combining material function with aesthetic pleasure pushed the art of English gardening into a healthier direction, and inserted the wings of science and democracy into the traditional art of landscape gardening. Compared with Chinese gardens, British gardens serve a wider range of people and are more open and public.

(3) Comparison from the place prototype of the garden

The traditional Chinese gardens, no matter it is the house garden or temple garden, basically belong to the "garden", "court" is the subsidiary space of the building, therefore, the place prototype of the traditional Chinese garden is still a kind of interior of the building. Therefore, the place of traditional Chinese gardens is still a spatial place inside the building, which is subordinate to the overall scope of the building in the first place. Therefore, the essence of the place is "inside" and "private". On the contrary, western gardens have always been an independent spatial place parallel to buildings, buildings and gardens set each other off and define each other. Whether specialized gardens or castles, churches and manor houses, usually around the buildings around the scattered arrangement. Therefore, the essence of the place of the Western garden is closer to the "outside (outside)" and "public **** (public)". These two different place archetypes y affected the two gardens on the different pursuit of natural beauty and led to the design of different styles.