This book is about Arcadia and the pastoral tradition; what it has meant for successive generations and their vision of the landscape, as well as the implications this has had for its design and management. Today the concept of Arcadia, and way it has shaped our landscape, is dimly perceived and little understood by landscape architects and those responsible for the management of land. This is in marked contrast to previous centuries when the vision of Arcadia and the pastoral was implanted by education among the more privileged in society. Young men spent many hours translating and learning by rote the words of Virgil and other classical authors and on the Grand Tour they would be introduced to work of painters like Poussin and Claude and their interpretations of the Ideal pastoral landscape. Today Arcadia holds as powerful an influence as at any time in the past and it is important that we plan our urban environment in ways that harmonise with the natural world. Arcadian Visions provides an alternative landscape history for all those involved with the landscape - either through its design, management, use or enjoyment. It begins by examining the origins of Arcadia and the pastoral in the classical poetry of Theocritus and Virgil, and the effects of, and on, Christianity before outlining its development in renaissance Italy and subsequently in the Netherlands, America and England. It concludes by looking at how arcadian ecology is bringing about a re-appraisal of the pastoral in the 21st century.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. The Classical Origins of Arcadia Arcadia - the reality and the myth The City of Alexandria Theocritus Virgil and his formative years Virgil’s philosophy The Eclogues The Georgics Arcadia and the Pastoral Notes and References 2. Virgil: the house, garden and landscape Landscape and the Romans The Location and Layout of the Villa Urbana Notes and References 3. The Christian World and Arcadia Virgil and Christianity Petrarch - the prophet of the new age Petrarch’s Garden Petrarch and Virgil Florence and the Medici’s Lorenzo the Magnificent Notes and References 4. Venice and the Pastoral Landscape Giovanni Bellini Giorgione and the Concert Champetre Titian Notes and References 5. Rome and the Pastoral Landscape The Borghese and the villa borghese Villa Mondragone and the Pastoral Image Claude Lorrain The Grand Tourists Notes and References 6. The Dutch Republic and the Golden Age of Landscape The Treaty of Utrecht and its aftermath The Response to Change Literature and Painting The Landscape in Poetry Country Houses and Estates Hofdichten Poetry and the garden Nostalgia and a new Realism Rembrandt - the master of naturalism Notes and References 7. Changes to the Pastoral Vision in 18c England The third Earl of Shaftesbury Joseph Addison - the natural landscape The Kit Kat Club and the Pastoral Debate The Pastoral as a critique Addison and the natural garden Notes and References 8. Arcadia and the Pastoral Landscape realized Lord Burlington James Thomson The Seasons and the Georgic landscape William Kent and Rousham MacClary’s tour of the garden Notes and References 9. The Happy Rural Life William Shenstone and the Leasowes The Circuit Walk and Virgil’s Grove Reactions to the Leasowes Aristocratic Resurgence Joshua Reynolds and Landscape Taste Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown A Changing Mood Notes and References The Coming of The Picturesque and the Romantics The Picturesque and the Reverend William Gilpin Uvedale Price and Richard Payne Knight William Wordsworth and the Picturesque Grasmere Wordsworth and the hard Pastoral Michael - a pastoral poem John Constable and the soft Pastoral A National Icon Notes and References The Pastoral Vision and the American Dream Early Arrivals Thomas Jefferson Jefferson’s Pastoral vision Emerson and the Transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Walden Pond Thoreau and nature John Muir and preservation of wilderness Notes and References 12. America and Religious Pastoral A New Aesthetic Frederic Law Olmsted and Frederic Cole - the early years Olmsted’s Aesthetics of Landscape Scenery A Change in Direction The Campaign for Public Parks Central Park, New York The Final Years Notes and References Ruskin, Morris and the Garden City The Middle Classes and the pastoral resurgence John Ruskin William Morris and the Arts and Craft movement Morris and socialism News from Nowhere Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City Letchworth Garden City The Development of the Garden Suburb Notes and References The First World War and Pastoral Visions of England A. E. Houseman The Georgian Poets Edward Thomas The First World War - a literary war Edmund Blunden War Graves - a pastoral setting A last hurrah for the Georgian Poets Notes and References Modernism and anti-pastoral landscape T.S.Eliot and the Imagists The Modern Movement Piet Mondrian Cornelis van Eesteren The Amsterdam Bos Park Le Corbusier and the Villa Savoie Christopher Tunnard and Bentley Wood Notes and References The Workers’ Pastoral The Rev. T. A. Leonard and the Co-operative Holiday Association The Influence of the CHA The Right to Roam Legislation for Access and National Parks Arcadia for all The Expansion of Plotlands The Response The Battle for the Countryside The Effects of the Legislation Notes and References 17 Arcadia revisited - the ecological landscape Amsterdam: the Bijlmermeer Louis Le Roy The Natural City Delft: the Gilles estate England: Oakwood, Warrington New Town Notes and References 18. Eco-pastoral - the pastoral redefined The Age of Ecology Technology versus Ecology Aldo Leopold Rachel Carson Environmentalism Responses - Eco Art The Post-pastoral Literature The Urban Question and Ecological Design New Approaches Aesthetics and Ecological Design Where is Arcadia today? Notes and References Final Thoughts Childhood experiences Conclusion Notes and references