Gardens in Late Medieval Illustrations

Gardens

The following links are to depictions of "pleasure gardens" in late medieval manuscripts (and some from the early 16th century as well). Many of these gardens are allegorical or metaphorical, rather than realistic representations of specific medieval gardens.

For more on this subject, see these links on gardens and garden design, knot gardens, pre-17th century gardens, and flowers and plants, as well as The Writer in the Garden.

Scenes of Country Life in the Chambre du Cerf of the Papal Palace at Avignon, 1343

A riche man of gret renoun.
He hadde bihinden his paleys
A fair gardin of noblays
Ful of appel-tres and of pirie,
Foules songe erinne murie.
Amideward þat gardyn fre,
So wax a pinnote tre,
Þat hadde fair bowes and frut
Þervnder was al his dedut.
He made þervnder a grene bench
And drank þervnder mani a sscench.
Certes þerinne was al his plaiyng
In time of solas and his resting.

The Seven Sages of Rome
(from The Auchinleck Manuscript, c. 1330)
ll. 538-5500

The walled garden of Sir Mirth, Le Roman de la Rose (British Library MS Egerton 1069, fol. 1), c. 1400
The husband and wife, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 10, fol. 334), beginning of the 15th century
Madonna in the Rosary by Stefano da Zevio, c. 1410
The Garden of Eden, c. 1410
Duke and ladies in a garden (fol. 145) and lovers in a garden (fol. 376), collected works of Christine de Pisan (British Library MS Harley 4431), 1410-1411
Maria of Gueldern, The Prayer-Book of Maria of Gueldern, c. 1415
The Garden of Love by Giovanni di Francesco Toscani, c. 1420-1430
Madonna of the Rose Bench by Robert Campin, c. 1425
The storytellers leave Florence, The Decameron (BNF Fr. 239, fol. 1), second quarter of the 15th century
Annunciation by Fra Angelico, 1433-1434
Detail from The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin by Jan van Eyck, 1435
The Madonna of Humility by Giovanni di Paolo, c. 1435
St. Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Madonna by Rogier van der Weyden, 1435
April, a book of hours (PML M.202, fol. 4r), c. 1435-1454
Madonna and Child at the Fountain by Jan van Eyck, 1439
Noli Me Tangere by Fra Angelico, 1440-1441
The garden of Annalena and Giardino Corsi in Florence, restored to its appearance in 1441
Madonna and Child with Saints in the Enclosed Garden, c. 1440-1460
Madonna of Humility by Giovanni di Paolo, 1442
The Annunciation by Fra Carnevale, c. 1445-1450
Visitation, a book of hours (PML M.104, fol. 51r), c. 1445-1465
The Annunciation by Fra Angelico, 1450
Alexander and the monstrous child, History of Alexander (BNF Fr. 9342, fol. 203), mid-15th century
Planting a garden, Livre des prouffitz champestres et ruraulx (BNF Arsenal 5064, fol. 151v), third quarter of the 15th century
Garden at the Medici Villa restored to its appearance in 1458-1461
Emilia in the rose garden, Teseida, c. 1460
A couple in a garden, Livre des proffitz champestres et ruraulx (Musée Condé MS 340, fol. 207r), c. 1459-1470
Abdalonymus, The History of Alexander the Great (BNF Fr. 48, fol. 2), second half of the 15th century
The combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 289, fol. 360), second half of the 15th century
Susannah and the old men, Fleur des Histoires (BNF Fr. 55, fol. 111v), second half of the 15th century
Charles VI at Abbeville, The Chronicles of England (BNF Fr. 81, fol. 137), second half of the 15th century
Garden of Love by Bartolomeo Baldini Baccio, 15th century
The Feast in the Garden of Love, 1465
Madonna and Child with Saints Katherine, Barbara, Mary Magdalene, and a donor family, c. 1470
Detail from The Last Supper by Dieric Bouts the Elder, 1464-1467
A walk in a garden, La chanson de Garin de Monglenne (BNF Fr. 1460, fol. 28), 15th century
Fols. 157r and 281r, Livre des Prouffis Champestres et Ruraux (PML M.232), c. 1470
Portrait of Ludovico Portinari by the Master of the Legend of St. Ursula, 1470s
Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, 1472-1475
The Holy Kinship c. 1470-1490
Bathsheba bathing, The Hours of Anne of France (PML M.677, fol. 211r), 1473
Petrus de Crescentiis in an orchard (fol. 110) and an herb garden (fol. 157), Rustican / Commoda Ruralia (British Library MS Royal 14 E. VI), c. 1473-1483
Madonna with Donor and St. Mary Magdalene, c. 1475
Garden of Love, from The Housebook, c. 1475-1485
Arthur learns of his misfortune, The Death of Arthur (BNF Fr. 111, fol. 281), c. 1480
Building a country house (fol. 27), an apple orchard (fol. 117v), and a walled herb garden (fol. 165), Livre des profits ruraux (British Library MS Add. 19720), late 15th century
Background from a scene from the Legend of St. Lucy, 1480
The author and a companion in a pleasure-garden, Livre des prouffitz champestres et ruraulx (BNF Fr. 12 330, fol. 207), c. 1480-1485
Noli me tangere, The Golden Legend (BNF Fr. 244, fol. 118), c. 1480-1490
Virgin and Child in a Rose-Garden with Two Angels by Hans Memling, 1480s
April, a book of hours (PML M.195, fol. 4r), c. 1485-1500
The Holy Family with a rosebush by the Master of the Housebook, c. 1490
St. Anne with the Virgin and Child and St. Christopher, c. 1490
Several illustrations in Le Roman de la Rose (British Library MS Harley 4425), c. 1490-1500, including fols. 12v, 14v, 18v, 25v, 36, 42, 166, and 184v.
A watering-pot, end of the 15th or early 16th century
April: putting a plant cage in a raised garden bed, a book of hours (PML M.1053, fol. 4r), c. 1490-1500
Attributes of the Virgin, The Grimani Breviary, c. 1490-1510
The Garden of Pleasure, Échecs amoureux (BNF Fr. 143, fol. 198v), c. 1496-1498
April in the Hours of Henry VIII (Morgan MS H.8, fol. 2v), c. 1500
The Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels in a Garden, c. 1500
Virgin and Child with Saints and Donor, c. 1500
A lady (Bathsheba?) and her servant in a garden, Histoire d'amour sans paroles (Musée Condé MS 388, fol. 1v), early 16th century
April, a book of hours (MS M.431, fol. 4r), early 16th century
March, pruning vines, in a book of hours (PML M.174, fol. 3r), early 16th century
April, The Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany (BNF 9474, fol. 7), c. 1503-1508
April in a book of hours (PML M.85, fol. 4r), c. 1505-1525
David and Bathsheba, a book of hours (British Library MS Sloane 2418, fol. 81), early 16th century
The story of David and Bathsheba, 16th century
Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen as a Gardener by Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, 1507
Pageant at Saints-Innocents, Pageants for the marriage of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, to Louis XII of France (British Library MS Cotton Vespasian B. II, fol. 10), 1514
Triptych with St. Barbara and St. Dorothy with the Christ Child, c. 1514-1515
March in the Da Costa Hours (PML M.399, fol. 4v), c. 1515
April in a book of hours (PML M.632, fol. 4r), c. 1515-1525
Antoine de Cocquerel (fol. 145) and Étienne Levasseur (fol. 27v), Chants Royaux du Puy Notre-Dame d'Amiens (BNF Fr. 145), 1518
Illustrations from L'Amant infortuné, c. 1520-1530 (Musée Condé MS 508); search using the Réunion des musés nationaux
March (fol. 3v) in the Hennessy Book of Hours, c. 1530-1540
March in a book of hours (British Library MS Add. 18855, fol. 108), c. 1540
A concert in a garden, second part of the 16th century
16th century designs for gardens: a circular garden, a rectangular garden, an octagonal garden, a square garden, an oval garden, a large garden, a labyrinth garden
Spring by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565
Noli me tangere by Lambert Sustris
A letter wherein part of the entertainment unto the Queen's Majesty at Killingworth Castle in Warwickshire in this summer's progress, 1575, is signified; the author (probably Robert Langham) provides a detailed description of the castle's gardens
A walled garden, The Gardeners Labyrinth (British Library MS 456.a.3, 83), 1577
Garden with two nymphs by Georg Hoefnagel, 1579
Garden at the Villa Torre di Bellosguardo in Florence, its design in 1583
Garden design by Hans Vredeman de Vries, from Hortorum viridariorumque by Pieter IV van der Borcht, 1583
Feast in the Park of the Duke of Mantua by Sebastian Vrancx, c. 1595
Tapestry of women in a garden, late 16th or early 17th century
Ladies in a garden embroidering, Album Amicorum of Gervasius Fabricius (British Library MS Add. 17025, fol. 50), c. 1603
Spring by Abel Grimmer, 1607
Spring by Pieter Bruegel
Jardin du roy, 1636