Comparative Study On Picturesque Landscape Architecture In 17th Century China And 18th Century England

In both 17th-century China and 18th-century England,gardening and painting were closely related to each other in an unprecedented way,beginning a period of picturesque gardening that would have a profound impact on later generations.In the discussions of Chinese gardens,the recurring proposition of ’picturesque’ has,in a state of unawareness,confused too many of the picturesque concepts developed in 18th century England.Though thousands miles away,the gardening activities under the two similar ’picturesque’ propositions of the two countries do have similarities and correlations in their development,however,in essence,they are still developing along their own completely different logics.In the existing studies both at home and abroad,the discussion on the comparisons of Chinese and British gardening mostly stays in the overall comparison from style and form,ignoring the complexity within the development of the two types of gardening,for whether in 17th-century China or 18th-century England,the "picturesque gardening" activities have not formed an either complete or clear theory and program.Rather,they developed in a variety of ways in the specific practices of specific people.Therefore,this article has not written from the perspective of the history of gardens,but focused on the horizontal comparison of typical works(paintings and gardens),typical figures(painters and gardeners)and related theories,from specific "paintings","painters" to "garden makers","garden theories","garden diagrams" and then to "gardens",combined with the specific object of comparison,which establishes a new analogical structure between the two from "painting" to“diagram" and then to "garden".It also aims to establish an intrinsic link between the two conceptions of ’picturesque gardening’ and their own painting traditions,so as to reduce the misinterpretation caused by the confusion between both the Chinese and English conceptions of picturesque paintings,and to provide new possibilities for mutual learning between the two countries.