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| The Hortus Palatinus, with Heidelberg Castle in the background, by Jacques Fouquier, c.1614-16 |
The Hortus Palantinus - the 'Garden of the Palatinate' - was once described as the 'eighth wonder of the word'. Designed by French engineer Salomon de Caus, it was commissioned by Frederick of Bohemia in 1614 as a gift for his new wife, Elizabeth Stuart - sister of Charles I of England - for their new home in Heidelberg.
Yet Germany's 'greatest Renaissance garden' was doomed never to be completed. The Thirty Years War came and wrecked its striking multi-level terraces, the married couple fleeing to the safety of the Hague.
Re-imaging the Hortus is not the forensic exercise it might have been, however, thanks to the survival of De Caus' original plans, indicative paintings and a helpful digital resource ...