Throughout the year, we’re going to shine a spotlight on one stock item per month and delve a little deeper into it’s history.
The first in this series is our wonderful Architectural Model Rotunda: a rare and fine architectural model rotunda, French, circa 1880, in rosewood, kingwood and boxwood, with ebony mounts, of good colour.
Prompted by the popularity of the European Grand Tour undertaken by many an English Gentleman and scholar in the 18th and 19th centuries, architectural styles inspired by Greek and Roman remains started to filter back into fashionable styles in England. Famous landscape gardeners were quick to embrace these sources of inspiration and temples and rotundas started to appear in the newly fashionable ‘Landscape Gardens’ designed by the likes of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and William Kent. This new gardening style sought to present an idealised view of nature, using architectural gems to create focal points throughout the landscape. Several of the most famous landscape gardens feature rotundas, such as Stowe in Buckinghamshire, Studley Royal in Yorkshire and Kew in London.