The Temple
in the Landscape
‘Italy & The English Landscape Garden’
About The Speakers
Chris Sumner
Il Signor: Kent and Italy
Chris Sumner is a retired architect and an architectural and garden historian, and
formerly worked for the Greater London Council's Historic Buildings Division and from
1986 for the London Region of English Heritage. He is a founder member and past
chairman of the London Parks and Gardens Trust, a trustee of the Strawberry Hill Trust,
and a member of the gardens advisory panel at Chiswick House.
Professor John Harrison
Classical Rome and its Influence
Professor John Harrison is a psychologist and classicist with a particular interest in the
reception of Roman mythology in the eighteenth-century landscape garden. His research
has focused on the gardens at Stourhead and particularly on the interaction between
designer intention and visitor interpretation. He is currently exploring the interaction
between Roman influences in the English garden and the late-eighteenth century Italian
enthusiasm for the ‘Giardino Inglese’.
Professor Timothy Mowl
Bridging the Political Divide - Palladian
Bridges & the Whig Connection
Timothy Mowl is Emeritus Professor of History of Architecture and Designed Landscapes
at the University of Bristol. After a decade in the 1990s writing books on architectural
history, in 2000 he published Gentlemen & Players: Gardeners of the English Landscape
and then embarked upon a nationwide series of the historic gardens of England, county
by county. To date the project has delivered 14 books, including volumes on
Gloucestershire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Cornwall, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire,
Northamptonshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and
Cambridgeshire. Hampshire is the latest book in the series and was published in May 2016.
Alongside this research into England’s garden history, Professor Mowl published, in 2006,
the first major biography on the architect and landscape designer, William Kent. His most
recent architectural books on his home city are a photo-journalistic study, Bristol – City
on the Edge (2006), and a book of urban architectural walks: Bristol Explored (2015). Tim is
currently mentoring a group of former students in order to facilitate the publication of
their research topics in both garden and architectural history.
The Temple
in the Landscape
‘Italy & The English Landscape Garden’
Clare Ford-Wille
17th Century Painters of the Roman Campagna
and their Influence upon the English Landscape Garden
Clare Ford-Wille has been an associate lecturer at Birkbeck College and independent art
historian for many years with a special interest in the history of landscape painting.
As well as lecturing for the Victoria and Albert Museum, NADFAS, the National Trust and
Morley College, she leads regular tours to places of art historical interest.
Michael Symes
The Impact of the Grand Tour on Designing and
Viewing Gardens
Michael Symes is an author, lecturer and garden historian. He has published numerous
articles and several books, mostly on the eighteenth-century landscape garden, including
a book on Painshill, with which he has been associated for more than 40 years. His latest
books are ‘The English Landscape Garden in Europe’, showing the links with European
gardens, and a modern edition of Thomas Whately’s ‘Observations on Modern Gardening’
(1770), which contains the fullest description of Painshill in Charles Hamilton’s time.
Cherrill Sands
The Restoration of The Temple of Bacchus
Cherrill Sands is a freelance garden historian with an MA in the Conservation of Gardens,
Landscapes & Parks from the Architectural Association in London. She is a Representative
Member for Painshill Park Trust and delivers talks, guided tours, and is responsible for
the archives. In 2013 she undertook a Lecture Tour of the USA for Painshill, presenting
talks in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. Cherrill is Chair of the Surrey Gardens Trust,
and continues to research and teach.
to book call 01932 868 113 or visit
www.painshill.co.uk/conference
Reg. Charity No. 284944