Dr Janina Ramirez goes ‘In Search of Arcadia’ discovering the origins of the English landscape movement in a 12-mile stretch of the Thames between Hampton and Chiswick with waterman and historian John Bailey. In the early 18th century this stretch of the river was home to a group of writers, poets, artists and garden designers who were inspired by classical landscapes of antiquity and the ancient idea of Arcadia.
Janina discovers the people and the ideas at the heart of this transformative movement and the landscape of the Thames – Nicholas Poussin’s painting Et in Arcadia Ego, the French formal gardens at Hampton Court, Pope’s Grotto, Marble Hill House, Chiswick House, Syon Meadows and finally the view from Richmond Hill.
John unpacks the role the River Thames played in their story as he explores the natural riches of its shores. He has time for fishing and contemplation along the way with his guide – Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler.
In Search of Arcadia starts with the most famous of Arcadian paintings, Et in Arcadia Ego by Nicholas Poussin, at Garrick’s Temple in Hampton. She explains the ancient concept of Arcadia – a lost paradise where man and nature lived in perfect harmony. It’s an idea that emerges in many cultures, but in Britain in the 17th and 18th century this ancient philosophy inspired a revolution in painting, writing, architecture and garden design.
In Search of Arcadia
Janina and John set off down the Thames on a traditional Thames wherry. John gives Janina his copy of Izaak Walton’s fishing manual The Compleat Angler. Published in 1653 it’s a book that has been reprinted over 400 times. John and Janina discover the book is much more than a practical fishing manual. It is also a philosophic treatise in which Izaak Walton first proposed an Arcadian philosophy; a vision of a world where man and nature lived in perfect harmony. He suggested that through the studied contemplation of the landscape, mankind could achieve a higher moral wisdom and virtuous understanding of the universe.
John experiences Walton’s philosophy first-hand, angling with fellow Walton enthusiast Keith Elliott. Janina explores the magnificent but formal Privy Gardens, commissioned by William III in 1702. Janina contemplates how at odds this formal garden is with the idea of a pastoral Arcadia. The formal French garden is beautiful and perfect, but nature is enslaved in it. This is very different to Izaak Walton’s idea of Arcadia where man and nature co-exist in a perfect pastoral idyll. Two of Britain’s greatest writers and poets, Joseph Addison and Alexander Pope, started a quiet rebellion against this subjugation of nature by publishing satirical articles in the Spectator and the Guardian.
