Jan Rudolf Černín and his Krásný Dvůr. Landscape parks in Bohemia in the centre of artistic and travel inspiration
Abstract
The book offers perspective on landscape gardens and parks as focus points of cultural exchange and perception of new ideas - Enlightenment and Romanticism. In the second half of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, landscape gardens and parks became a major representative symbol of aristocracy, one that was nevertheless also "democratically" open to other interested people. Customarily at the time, these gardens were freely accessible to visitors of common origin. Practical information about the locality was routinely included in printed descriptions and illustrations. An example that illustrates this "multipurpose" function of landscape garden is the garden in Krásný Dvůr near Podbořany, one of the first landscape gardens in the Czech lands. At the same time, this garden has kept its original design and appearance, imprinted on it by its commissioner at the turn of the nineteenth century. Through careful analysis of the sources, period gardening and landscaping literature and illustrations, it is proved that parks and gardens held a great role in dissemination of new ideas and styles. The garden itself was a work of art, both inspired and inspiring. Jan Rudolf Černín of Chudenice began to create the garden at the start of his social career for it to then become the central object of his representation. The idea horizon of Jan Rudolf Černín himself was delineated by his education, Grand Tour over Europe and reading. This publication includes his Grand Tour diary and an anonymous description of travel over England which prove that Jan Rudolf visited gardens on purpose and reflected on them critically and insightfully.
Z. Hojda is the author of the chapters The settlement strategy of the Czernins of Chudenice in the 17th and 18th centuries and Krásný Dvůr (pp. 12-23), Jan Rudolf Czernin of Chudenice. 24-60); co-author of the chapter Jan Rudolf Černín on his travels (pp. 61-73); co-editor of Jan Rudolf Černín's Travel Diary 1779-1780 (pp. 247-335); and co-editor of Anonymous Travelogue to England (1776-1778?), pp. 335-350.