Lancelot "Capability" Brown

life

Lancelot Brown, fittingly the son of a gardener, was born in Kirkharle, Northumberland in 1716. After attending school until the age of 16, Brown apprenticed to Sir William Lorraine in 1732 and later moved to Wotton in order to work for Sir Richard Grenville as a gardener. After that, Brown started to work for Lord Cobham. During his time at Stowe Park, Brown married Bridget Wayet in 1744 and made the acquaintance of William Kent, who was working at the estate. This acquaintance helped Brown to set up his own business in 1749. In 1760 Brown took up work at Blenheim Palace until he was appointed Master Gardener at Hampton Court four years later as his career took off. Lancelot Brown died in 1783.

nickname: "Capability"

Lancelot Brown came to be called Lancelot "Capability" Brown because of his habit of describing the potential to shape parks as "capabilities".

concept of gardens

Lancelot "Capability" Brown was famous for his designed gardens. However, he did not follow the idea of symmetrical, strictly ordered French gardens, but favored the supposedly more natural English garden style. Thus, Brown's gardens imitated nature so that his gardens were also planned and arranged but at least acknowledged natural growth. Lancelot "Capability" Brown's garden's went together well with the eclectic style and Gothic buildings that were fashionable at that time.

sources

British Towns Network. http://www.capability-brown.org.uk/ 5 January 2010

The Twickenham Museum. Bowling, John. http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=295 5 January 2010.

--Laura 15:04, 5 January 2010 (UTC)