Masters of their Craft: the art, architecture and garden design of the Nesfields

Masters of their Craft: the art, architecture and garden design of the Nesfields, Shirley Rose Evans, Lutterworth Press 2014, 228 pages, 55 black and white and 51 colour illustrations.

Think of a Victorian garden and the image that comes to mind is probably a scheme by William Andrews Nesfield. The work of Nesfield and his son William Eden Nesfield was so prolific that their contribution to architectural and garden design in many ways exemplifies the age.

Inspired by the beauty and romance of history, they played an important role in the 19th-century revival of the Jacobean, renaissance and gothic styles. They were commissioned by wealthy patrons across the country and received prestigious public commissions in London; both were also highly accomplished watercolourists and draftsmen. WA Nesfield’s parterre-debroderie, an intricate pattern of highly artificial bedding on a flat plane, became his signature design and the centrepiece of many commissions. But it was the very complexity, level of control and materials used in these designs that eventually led to the style falling from favour.

Shirley Evans, who has spent years researching and publishing articles about the Nesfields, is well placed to produce a study focusing on their lives and work. Privileged access to the family archives, beautiful photographs from Country Life, contemporary publications and original sources have yielded a wealth of information about their lives, interests and designs, so much there seems to be material for a volume dedicated to each man. The flow of the narrative is interrupted by short biographies and context concerning other artists and designers with whom the Nesfields associated, suggesting that the book is aimed at a wide audience, not just architectural and garden historians.

This study provides a wonderful portrait of these Victorian gentlemen, products of their age. It includes many fascinating details, including informative captions from a shrubbery plan, extracts from letters to clients providing insights into design intentions, and quotations from contemporary descriptions of parterre planting.

This level of detail simply invites more questions and analysis. What exactly made William Andrews resign his military commission to become a painter? Which commissions most clearly demonstrate the influence of their painting on landscape design, and how did one commission lead to another? A fuller assessment of the Nesfields’ legacy and influence would have made a useful contribution to the conclusion.

The book includes valuable lists of commissions and of the exhibited watercolours of WA Nesfield. It is referenced and generously illustrated throughout, with their drawings and watercolours demonstrating the Nesfields’ considerable skill. It would have been useful to have dates and sources of all photographs to aid understanding and clarity about what remains or has been restored.

This book is a welcome addition to studies of prominent landscape designers. It will inform greater understanding of the Nesfields’ work and contribution to architectural and garden design, and encourage readers to search out their surviving creations.

This article originally appeared as ‘Nineteenth-century revivals’ in the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s (IHBC’s) Context 139, published in June 2015. It was written by Barbara Moth, retired historic landscape Consultant.

--Institute of Historic Building Conservation