Gardens in Late Medieval Illustrations

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 and Lost Gardens.

• 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 MS 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 and ladies 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 Gueldern, The Prayer-Book of Maria of Gueldern, 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
• The Virgin and Child in a garden, a book of hours (British Library MS Add. 31835, fol. 27), c. 1430-1440
• 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
• 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
• The Annunciation by Fra Carnevale, c. 1445-1450
• 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
• 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
• David penitent, a book of hours (British Library MS Add. 14803, fol. 63), second part of the 15th century
• 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
• 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
• Petrus de Crescentiis in an orchard (fol. 110) and a herb garden (fol. 157), 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), and a walled herb garden (fol. 165), 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
• 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, 20, 25v, 36, 42, 166, and 184v.
• A watering-pot, end of the 15th or early 16th century
• 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 in garden, Poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans (British Library MS Royal 16 F. II, fol. 1), c. 1500
• April in the Hours of Henry VIII (Morgan MS H.8, fol. 2v), c. 1500
• A lady (Bathsheba?) and her servant in a garden, Histoire d'amour sans paroles (Musée Condé MS 388, fol. 1v), early 16th century
• April, The Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany (BNF 9474, fol. 7), c. 1503-1508
• Blind man's bluff, a book of love poems (British Library MS Stowe 955, fol. 7), early 16th century
• David and Bathsheba, a book of hours (British Library MS Sloane 2418, fol. 81), early 16th century
• Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen as a Gardener by Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, 1507
• Pageant at Saints-Innocents, Pageants for the marriage of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, to Louis XII of France (British Library MS Cotton Vespasian B. II, fol. 10), 1514
• Triptych with St. Barbara and St. Dorothy with the Christ Child, c. 1514-1515
• March in the Da Costa Hours, c. 1515
• 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 Hennessey Book of Hours, c. 1530-1540
• March in a book of hours (British Library MS Add. 18855, fol. 108), c. 1540
• A concert in a garden, 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 large garden, a labyrinth garden
• 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
• A walled garden, The Gardeners Labyrinth (British Library MS 456.a.3, 83), 1577
• Garden at the Villa Torre di Bellosguardo in Florence, its design in 1583
• Tapestry of women in a garden, late 16th or early 17th century
• Ladies in a garden embroidering, Album Amicorum of Gervasius Fabricius (British Library MS Add. 17025, fol. 50), c. 1603
• Formal garden with a fountain, A Garden of Flowers (British Library MS C.66.c.1, plate 55), 1615