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The following links are to depictions of “pleasure gardens” in late medieval manuscripts (and some from the early 16th century as well). Many of these gardens are allegorical or metaphorical, rather than realistic representations of specific medieval gardens.
For more on this subject, see these links on gardens and garden design, knot gardens, pre-17th century gardens, and flowers and plants, as well as The Writer in the Garden.
- Scenes of Country Life in the Chambre du Cerf of the Papal Palace at Avignon, 1343
A riche man of gret renoun. He hadde bihinden his paleys A fair gardin of noblays Ful of appel-tres and of pirie, Foules songe erinne murie. Amideward þat gardyn fre, So wax a pinnote tre, Þat hadde fair bowes and frut Þervnder was al his dedut. He made þervnder a grene bench And drank þervnder mani a sscench. Certes þerinne was al his plaiyng In time of solas and his resting. The Seven Sages of Rome
(from The Auchinleck Manuscript, c. 1330)
ll. 538-5500 - Charles V enthroned between Spiritual Power and Temporal Power, Le Songe du Vergier (British Library Royal 19 C IV, fol. 1v), 1378
- The walled garden of Sir Mirth, Le Roman de la Rose (British Library MS Egerton 1069, fol. 1), c. 1400
- The husband and wife, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 10, fol. 334), beginning of the 15th century
- Madonna in the Rosary by Stefano da Zevio, c. 1410
- The Garden of Eden, c. 1410
- Duke of True Love and companions in a garden (fol. 145) and lovers in a garden (fol. 376), collected works of Christine de Pisan (British Library MS Harley 4431), 1410-1411
- Maria of Guelders, The Prayer-Book of Maria of Guelders, c. 1415
- The Garden of Love by Giovanni di Francesco Toscani, c. 1420-1430
- Madonna of the Rose Bench by Robert Campin, c. 1425
- The storytellers leave Florence, The Decameron (BNF Fr. 239, fol. 1), second quarter of the 15th century
- Annunciation by Fra Angelico, 1433-1434
- Detail from The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin by Jan van Eyck, 1435
- The Madonna of Humility by Giovanni di Paolo, c. 1435
- St. Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Madonna by Rogier van der Weyden, 1435
- April, a book of hours (PML M.202, fol. 4r), c. 1435-1454
- Madonna and Child at the Fountain by Jan van Eyck, 1439
- Noli Me Tangere by Fra Angelico, 1440-1441
- The garden of Annalena and Giardino Corsi in Florence, restored to its appearance in 1441
- Madonna and Child with Saints in the Enclosed Garden, c. 1440-1460
- Madonna of Humility by Giovanni di Paolo, 1442
- The Annunciation by Fra Carnevale, c. 1445-1450
- Visitation, a book of hours (PML M.104, fol. 51r), c. 1445-1465
- The Annunciation by Fra Angelico, 1450
- Alexander and the monstrous child, History of Alexander (BNF Fr. 9342, fol. 203), mid-15th century
- Planting a garden, Livre des prouffitz champestres et ruraulx (BNF Arsenal 5064, fol. 151v), third quarter of the 15th century
- Garden at the Medici Villa restored to its appearance in 1458-1461
- Emilia in the rose garden, Teseida, c. 1460
- A couple in a garden, Livre des proffitz champestres et ruraulx (Musée Condé MS 340, fol. 207r), c. 1459-1470
- Abdalonymus, The History of Alexander the Great (BNF Fr. 48, fol. 2), second half of the 15th century
- The combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 289, fol. 360), second half of the 15th century
- Susannah and the old men, Fleur des Histoires (BNF Fr. 55, fol. 111v), second half of the 15th century
- Charles VI at Abbeville, The Chronicles of England (BNF Fr. 81, fol. 137), second half of the 15th century
- Garden of Love by Bartolomeo Baldini Baccio, 15th century
- The Feast in the Garden of Love, 1465
- Madonna and Child with Saints Katherine, Barbara, Mary Magdalene, and a donor family, c. 1470
- Detail from The Last Supper by Dieric Bouts the Elder, 1464-1467
- A walk in a garden, La chanson de Garin de Monglenne (BNF Fr. 1460, fol. 28), 15th century
- Fols. 157r and 281r, Livre des Prouffis Champestres et Ruraux (PML M.232), c. 1470
- Portrait of Ludovico Portinari by the Master of the Legend of St. Ursula, 1470s
- Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, 1472-1475
- The Holy Kinship c. 1470-1490
- Bathsheba bathing, The Hours of Anne of France (PML M.677, fol. 211r), 1473
- Petrus de Crescentiis in an orchard (fol. 110), an herb garden (fol. 157), man digging in a pleasure garden (fol. 208), Rustican / Commoda Ruralia (British Library MS Royal 14 E VI), c. 1473-1483
- Madonna with Donor and St. Mary Magdalene, c. 1475
- Garden of Love, from The Housebook, c. 1475-1485
- Arthur learns of his misfortune, The Death of Arthur (BNF Fr. 111, fol. 281), c. 1480
- Building a country house (fol. 27), an apple orchard (fol. 117v), a walled herb garden (fol. 165), and other agricultural labors (fol. 305), Livre des profits ruraux (British Library MS Add. 19720), late 15th century
- Background from a scene from the Legend of St. Lucy, 1480
- The author and a companion in a pleasure-garden, Livre des prouffitz champestres et ruraulx (BNF Fr. 12 330, fol. 207), c. 1480-1485
- Noli me tangere, The Golden Legend (BNF Fr. 244, fol. 118), c. 1480-1490
- Virgin and Child in a Rose-Garden with Two Angels by Hans Memling, 1480s
- April, a book of hours (PML M.195, fol. 4r), c. 1485-1500
- The Holy Family with a rosebush by the Master of the Housebook, c. 1490
- St. Anne with the Virgin and Child and St. Christopher, c. 1490
- Several illustrations in Le Roman de la Rose (British Library MS Harley 4425), c. 1490-1500, including fols.
12v,
14v,
18v,
25v,
36r,
42r,
166r,
and 184v.
- A watering-pot (side view), end of the 15th or early 16th century
- April: putting a plant cage in a raised garden bed, a book of hours (PML M.1053, fol. 4r), c. 1490-1500
- Attributes of the Virgin, The Grimani Breviary, c. 1490-1510
- The Garden of Pleasure, Échecs amoureux (BNF Fr. 143, fol. 198v), c. 1496-1498
- Lords and ladies by a fountain in a walled garden, Poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans (British Library Royal 16 F II, fol. 1r), c. 1500
- April in the Hours of Henry VIII (Morgan MS H.8, fol. 2v), c. 1500
- The Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels in a Garden, c. 1500
- Virgin and Child with Saints and Donor, c. 1500
- A lady (probably Bathsheba) and her servant in a garden, Histoire d'amour sans paroles (Musée Condé MS 388, fol. 1v), early 16th century
- April, a book of hours (MS M.431, fol. 4r), early 16th century
- March, pruning vines, in a book of hours (PML M.174, fol. 3r), early 16th century
- April, The Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany (BNF 9474, fol. 7r), c. 1503-1508
- A maiden makes a chaplet of flowers in April in a book of hours (PML M.85, fol. 4r), c. 1505-1525
- Blind man's bluff, a book of love poems (British Library Stowe 955, fol. 7), early 16th century
- The story of David and Bathsheba, 16th century
- Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen as a Gardener by Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, 1507
- Triptych with St. Barbara and St. Dorothy with the Christ Child, c. 1514-1515
- March in the Da Costa Hours (PML M.399, fol. 4v), c. 1515
- April in a book of hours (PML M.632, fol. 4r), c. 1515-1525
- Antoine de Cocquerel (fol. 145) and Étienne Levasseur (fol. 27v), Chants Royaux du Puy Notre-Dame d'Amiens (BNF Fr. 145), 1518
- Illustrations from L'Amant infortuné, c. 1520-1530 (Musée Condé MS 508); search using the Réunion des musés nationaux
- March (fol. 3v) in the Hennessy Book of Hours, c. 1530-1540
- A concert in a garden on a rectangular enamel plaque by Léonard Limosin, second part of the 16th century
- 16th century designs for gardens: a circular garden, a rectangular garden, an octagonal garden, a square garden, an oval garden, a labyrinth garden, a garden parterre
- Spring by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565
- Noli me tangere by Lambert Sustris
- A letter wherein part of the entertainment unto the Queen's Majesty at Killingworth Castle in Warwickshire in this summer's progress, 1575, is signified; the author (probably Robert Langham) provides a detailed description of the castle's gardens
- Garden with two nymphs by Georg Hoefnagel, 1579
- Garden at the Villa Torre di Bellosguardo in Florence, its design in 1583
- Garden design by Hans Vredeman de Vries, from Hortorum viridariorumque by Pieter IV van der Borcht, 1583
- Feast in the Park of the Duke of Mantua by Sebastian Vrancx, c. 1595
- A castle next to a park by Hans Bol
- Tapestry of women in a garden, late 16th or early 17th century
- Ladies in a garden embroidering, Album Amicorum of Gervasius Fabricius (British Library Add. 17025, fol. 50), c. 1603
- Spring by Abel Grimmer, 1607
- Spring by Pieter Bruegel
- Spring by Pieter Brueghel the Younger
- Jardin du roy, 1636
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