The influence of England on the first English gardens in the Southern Low Countries and the Principality of Liege

The English Garden appearead in the Low Countries quite late in the 18th century since the geometric model – mainly influenced by the French style diffused by the treatise of Dezallier d’Argenville – is still in fashion in the years 1760. Amongst the famous realizations of the time figure the Garden of Leeuwergem Castle (1762), the upper Garden of Freÿr Castle (c. 1775) or the Royal Park of Brussels (1786). The two following decades (1760-1780) correspond to the major development of the new irregular style in the Low Countries merely influenced by Picturesque Garden but also by Naturalistic style Garden discovered by members of the aristocracy travelling in Great Britain as well as some gardeners sent to England to be trained and to learn how to grow new exotic plants.

This paper deals with the major designers and the most famous sleeping partners engaged in the program of creation of the first English gardens in the country, notably Prince Charles-Joseph de Ligne (Beloeil and Baudour), Duke Emmanuel de Croÿ (Hermitage), Count of Seneffe Joseph Depestre (Seneffe), Duke Emmanuel d’Hane Steenhuyse (Leeuwergem) and, first of all, Duke Albert de Saxe-Teschen and the Archduchess Marie Christine who asked Lancelot Brown a plan for the site near Brussels called the Fine Mountain (Schoonenberg). Brown has sent his project from Britain in July 1782.
We have also taken interest in the many unknown owners who gathered important plants collection that are only described in travel diaries or mentioned in archives (inventories and other lists of purchase or supply) that have no longer survived.
This article present some facets of the global research accomplished in the thesis (2015) focusing on the direct influence of the English design on the first irregular gardens in the Southern Low Countries.