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Design for municipal sunken gardens
Miller, William, born 1828 - died 1909 - Enlarge image
Design for municipal sunken gardens
- Object:
Design
- Place of origin:
Great Britain, United Kingdom (made)
- Date:
ca. 1908 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Miller, William, born 1828 - died 1909 (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pen and ink and watercolour
- Museum number:
E.810-1979
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level D, case LD, shelf 7
William Miller had started as a gardener’s boy, rather like Joseph Paxton (1801-1865), designer of the Crystal Palace. By the end of his career he had become an important designer of large parks and gardens; around 1900 he set up his own garden design business in Berkswell, Coventry. He often adopted the ‘S’ shape, a line of beauty thought to be inherent in all successful works of art. This idea had been popularised by the artist William Hogarth (1697-1764), who published a treatise called The Analysis of Beauty in 1753. Miller approached his tasks like a decorative pattern maker, rather than someone working in three dimensions. The garden incorporated parterres, statues, fountains raised on mounds, flower beds and paths, as well as administrative buildings and lavatories.
