What Did the Art Matter So Much to Cosimo Demedici
Apologies to regular readers for the faux alarm most a mail service yesterday. I'm afraid there was a skid of the editorial finger when instead of saving the draft of next week's piece I hit "publish". It happens fifty-fifty to the all-time of us merely y'all should have known it wasn't Sat morning!
Between 1667 and 1669 Cosimo de Medici, the 26 twelvemonth one-time heir to the Chiliad Duke of Tuscany, went on two long trips around Western Europe, which included a three calendar month stay in England. Arriving in Plymouth he travelled by carriage to London calling at places of involvement on the style, and later visiting several other towns including Cambridge and Oxford. Despite pretending to travel incognito he had a large retinue, including an artist to record the places he visited and a leading young Florentine scholar, Count Lorenzo Magalotti, who acted as secretary and wrote an account of his journeys.
Now in the Laurentian Library in Florence the manuscript relating to the trip to England became a pop port of call for the more than erudite English language visitor on the Grand Tour in the 18thc. As a result 200 years ago in 1821 information technology was translated into English language and published. Copies of the illustrations were made by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd and these are now in the British Library. While some parts of Magalotti's periodical are mundane others make fascinating reading and gives an extremely rare narrative insight into the everyday life of the mail service-Restoration court circumvolve, and well as giving first-hand account of several gardens while making occasional comaprisons with Italian ones.
Westminster
Cosimo was to exist the penultimate Grand Duke of Tuscany, succeeding his father in 1670, merely a few months afterwards on his render from England, and reigning until 1723. During his extraordinarily lengthy 53 yr reign the Florence economy, already nearly bankrupt at his accesion, collapsed along with its political and military ability to an all time low. Inappreciably prepossessing in the first identify he was bought upwards by his mother to be an extremely pious, and towards the end of his life, moralistic and dogmatic, Catholic. He was melancholic and rarely seen to grinning in public.
A disastrous dynastic marriage to an extravagant French princess Marguerite Louise d' Orleans was what led his male parent Grand Duke Ferdinando to send Cosimo on these long journeys in the hope of distracting him and also perhaps to allow him to indulge his passion for fine art.
The first trip took him kickoff into Austria in October 1667 with an entourage of 18 people and 14 carriages, accompanied past six cooks and his secretary. From there they took a barge which sailed down the down the Rhine to Amsterdam, where he bought paintings and met Rembrandt. He besides visited the Botanic gardens at Leiden.
Cosimo travelled on to Hamburg, where he met Queen Christina of Sweden earlier returning to Florence the post-obit May.
Nonetheless Magalotti did not accompany him and instead went to London where he was introduced to members of the Royal Guild, including Robert Hooke, Henry Oldenburg, Robert Boyle and IsaacNewton. He stayed in bear upon with many of them and in 1709 was made a Fellow of the Purple Society.
No sooner had Cosimo got dwelling than hostilities with his wife resumed and in a affair of months he went travelling once again, this fourth dimension taking 27 in his entourage, including Magalotti. The political party sailed from Livorno [so Leghorn to the English] to Barcelona in September 1668 and travelled effectually Spain for several months before crossing into Portugal. In March 1669 the party embarked at La Corunna on an English transport, the Portland, and headed for London. This was probably arranged by Sir Robert Southwell, the English minister in Portugal, who was a Fellow of the Purple Society and was to keep to be President in 1690. He had also travelled extensively in Europe and had met Magalotti who had been to London earlier.
Arriving at Plymouth the Tuscans took carriages to Exeter, being met and welcomed en route past all the local gentry. This was to be the pattern for their whole stay as all their theoretical attempts to be incognito were effectively ignored.
On the 9th Apr they reached Hinton St George the seat of the Poulett family unit where "His highness amused himself in the morning with riding in the park, and in the afternoon with walking in the garden."
Hinton House had been rebuilt in the early-16th century and Magaolotti described information technology "an aboriginal irregular building, …of a noble appearance, adept, and spacious." He also includes a description of the extensive gardens "both for utility and pleasance. One of them contains every kind both of culinary vegetables and fruit that grows in this climate : in the other in that location is a parterre very different from the mutual style of English gardens ; these are, usually, walks of sand, made perfectly level, by rolling them with a rock cylinder, through the axis of which a lever of iron is passed, whose ends existence brought forwards, and united together in form of a triangle, serve to move it backwards or forward; and between the walks are smooth grass-plats covered with the greenest turf, without any other ornament. This of my Lord Paulet is a meadow divided into several compartments of brick-piece of work, which are filled with flowers. Round the firm is the park, three miles in circumference, surrounded past a thick row of trees, betwixt each of which is a terrace of turf; and where the trees begin to shoot out branches; these, intertwined together, grade, along with the earth of the terraces, a contend of the strongest description." There was besides a big deer park with upwards of 600 red and black deer, one hundred of which are hunted every year. "Near the house is a wood for pheasants, with its walks cut with the greatest exactness, which greatly enhances its pleasantness."
They did non take a direct route from there to London. Instead they turned south visiting Maiden Castle on the way to Dorchester before turning north again to visit Stonehenge and Wilton, the seat of the Earl of Pembroke.
There "his highness went down into the garden, and entertained himself a long fourth dimension in conversation with the earl lonely; and as information technology was nearly sun-set, he walked almost the garden, through the centre of which flows a river called the Nadder, which passes under a span on a level with the ground, and produces trout in abundance. His highness went to come across the grotto, rough-bandage with pumice stone and cockle shells; several fountains that play in different ways; some rooms newly congenital, equally well for pleasure equally for the convenience of a foundry; and the maze park."
From Wilton it was off to Basingstoke, where "his highness …walked on foot through the town, which is wretched…so that the gratification of his marvel did not recoup for the fatigue of walking even a few paces."
The side by side major end was Syon House which for some strange reason was non drawn. Nevertheless "within the excursion of the outside walls, is inclosed a very big meadow which serves equally a court; the parterres and pleasance grounds, later the English manner, are non wanting, and extend as far as the Thames, which has the appearance of a culvert running through the gardens. The mod building is new and not nevertheless finished; on the roof in that location is a very fine walk, covered with plates of atomic number 82."
By this time Cosimo had attracted a large number of attendants who had come up to pay their respects, including members of the court, local dignitaries, Italian merchants based in London, also several other "curious" on-lookers. Reverting to his plan to enter the capital "quite incog…. he desired all these gentlemen to ready out earlier him for London, which they accordingly did." However, as he himself was leaving another host of courtiers arrived in two royal carriages with an offering from Queen Henrietta Maria for him to stay at Somerset Firm. He declined in order to preserve "his incog" only notwithstanding equally he arrived in London "a numerous crowd of people were assembled, on foot, in carriages, and on horseback to encounter him laissez passer" on his mode to stay with Henry Jermyn, Earl of St Albans in St James'south.
From there he began to explore the metropolis. His kickoff outing was to the queen'south chapel at St James Palace, and then the park which was "enclosed on every side by a wall, and containing a long, directly, and spacious walk, intended for the amusement of the Mall, on each side of which grow large elms, whose shade render the promenade in that place, in summer, infinitely pleasant and agreeable; close to it is a culvert of nearly the same length, on which are several species of aquatic birds, brought up and rendered domestic — the work of the Protector Cromwell; the rest of the park is left uncultivated, and forms a wood for the retreat of deer and other quadrupeds."
In that location is an interesting business relationship too of the social parade known equally "The Bout" or "The Ring", in Hyde Park where Cosimo goes to encounter the Duke of Ormonde, the Viceroy of Ireland. He "waited upon the knuckles, and and then walked in Hyde Park, where were the king and queen. His highness went in a carriage and pair, that he might avoid, by this delicate circumspection, every appearance of publicity. Hyde Park is a large and spacious meadow, in which many carriages of ladies and gentlemen assemble in the evening, to enjoy the agreeableness of the place; which, all the same, was greatly diminished by the Protector Cromwell, who, in order to render the vicinity of London more than open, cutting downwardly the elms which were planted at that place in rows. The rex and queen are often in that location, and the duke and duchess, towards whom, at the first meeting, and no more, all persons shew the usual marks of respect, which are afterwards omitted, although they should chance to run into again ever so often, every one being at full liberty, and under no restraint whatever; and to prevent the confusion and disorder, which might ascend from the swell number of lackies and footmen, these are not permitted to enter Hyde Park, but end at the gate waiting for their masters."
Cosimo spent three months in London attending courtroom and oft meeting the royal family. They met artists including Samuel Cooper who painted his portrait, and John Michael Wright from whom he bought pictures.
He and Magalotti too met members of the Royal Society and other intellectuals including Isaac Newton, Samuel Morland and Samuel Pepys who described him as "a very jolly and proficient comely human."
Charles II invited Cosimo to the races at Newmarket, and on the way the Tuscan party stopped at Audley Cease arriving by "a spacious avenue, planted with elms of considerable height, which terminated at the mansion."
"The entrance is into a quadrangular court, whose sides are surrounded by porticoes of stone, which, extending with perfect regularity to the distance of several bowshots, inclose a large meadow." Subsequently a description of the interior Magalotti goes on: "Upon the roof is a gallery, in the midst of which rises a small cupola, containing a clock, the audio of which proclaims to a great distance, the magnificence of this vast fabric; and from the top of this is an infinitely diversified prospect of gardens, meadows, hills, woods and vallies, which appear at different distances in the near cute points of view. The king is then much delighted with this place, that he is in treaty with the earl for the purchase of it, and they say that some time ago the price was agreed upon, but every bit it was not paid, the earl still retains possession." Charles did eventually pay, £50,000 for the house but it was returned to the Howard family in 1701.
After Newmarket they visited Cambridge where "the ancient buildings are not much to be admired" so Northampton earlier turning south again.
They took "a view" of "the royal villa of Holdenby, a foursquare palace, situated on the highest office of an eminence"…
which stood in "land, for the nearly role uncultivated, abounding in weeds, which surround [it] on every side… It was almost destroyed past the Parliamentarians in the time of Cromwell, just was restored by Rex Charles the Second, and given to my Lord Arlington, and afterwards sold by him to the Duke of York."
Adjacent it was "the villa of Althorp" which had simply been rebuilt 1666-8 for the 2nd Earl of Sunderland. After coming together the earl Cosimo "went down into the garden, in which, except some ingenious divisions, parterres, and well-arranged rows of trees, there is petty to exist seen that is rare or curious; equally it is non laid out and diversified with those shady walks, canopied with verdure, which add to the pleasantness of the gardens of Italy and France, just of which the nature and usage of this country would not acknowledge."
Next was Oxford where later touring the university with all the dignitaries, Cosimo visited the Botanic Garden where they met "the keeper of the garden an elderly homo of a fine countenance, and a perfect botanist," presumably Jacob Bobart the elderberry, who showed "plants of the greatest rarity… being all noted down and described in a printed sheet of paper." However they were not impressed because "from the smallness of its size, irregularity, and bad cultivation [it] scarcely deserves to be seen."
On that rather scathing note they decide to render to London .
During the rest of his stay Cosimo regularly went on railroad vehicle outings around the metropolis and visits gardens which Magalotti records.
These included Clarendon Business firm on Piccadilly, the newly congenital m townhouse of the disgraced Lord chancellor, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. They toured the mansion where "From the inner function y'all descend into the garden, surrounded, in its whole extent, by walls, which support flourishing espaliers, formed of various fruit-trees; these render the view very agreeable, although the garden has no other ornamentation, than compartments of earth filled with low and cute parterres and spacious walks; over which, in guild to keep them smooth and level, they roll certain heavy cylindrical stones, to keep the grass downward."
Another day saw them visit Lambeth Palace which "contains, too a commodious just sick-arranged habitation for the archbishop, an extensive library,… and a garden sufficiently pleasant, though not of extraordinary beauty." From at that place "his highness went to run across sundry gardens, in which, equally is more often than not the case in England, if nosotros except the disposition and organisation of the parterres, there is trivial to be admired, every bit they cannot preserve from the rigour of the climate those trees which add and then much to the dazzler of the Italian gardens."
Next it was the plough of Whitehall which was was described as "mean" and the gallery "alongside the king'due south chamber…, is entirely naked, all its treasures consisting of a prospect of a beautiful meadow, laid out like a garden, planted with trees and beautiful hedges of roses, and having four rows of statues in the eye, part of which are of bronze and standing, part of white marble, and, for the almost role, in a sitting posture. In the heart, which is surrounded by the statues, there rises a sure structure encircled past iron rails, composed of many and dissimilar kinds of dials of various shapes, then that there are always more than one of them that shew the lord's day's shadow."
Finally at that place was an invitation to meet a deer hunt at Hampton Court with Prince Rupert which led to a garden bout likewise. "The gardens are admirably laid out. They are divided into very large, level, and well- kept walks, which, separating the basis into diff'erent compartments, class artificial parterres of grass, beingness themselves formed by espalier copse, partly such every bit bear fruit, and partly ornamental ones, but all adding to the beauty of the appearance. This beauty is further augmented by fountains, fabricated of slate later on the Italian style, and distributed in different parts of the garden, whose jets d'eaux throw up the water in various playful and fanciful ways. In that location are also in the gardens some snug places of retirement in sure towers, formerly intended equally places of adaptation for the rex's mistresses…
detail from Abram Booth's View of Hampton Court c1630-40. Image from The Gardens and Parks at Hmopton Court Palace, by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan [2005]
Cosimo III by Torricelli c1680-90 V&A
The park is of considerable size, both in length and breadth, enclosing large meadows, where the preserved deer feed. To vary the delights of these beautiful premises, several canals or ponds are distributed in different parts of the park, in whose trans- parent waters quantities of fish are seen sporting, which are reserved for the diversion of angling."
The One thousand Tour in reverse finished in June and the Tuscans made their mode through Essex to Harwich where they took a transport to Rotterdam, arriving dorsum in Florence on 1 November 1669. As far as I'm aware Cosimo never left Tuscany again.
Source: https://thegardenstrust.blog/2021/04/17/the-english-travels-of-cosimo-iii/
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