Zahrady toskánských velkovévodů mezi Toskánskem a Čechami 1737-1849 – Březáčková Petra (2025)

The author presents readers with the results of her unique research concerning the personality of a truly European significance - landscape architect Josef Fritsch (born in Bohemia, active mainly in Tuscany). Petra Březáčková is the first to analyze the transformations of informal gardens owned by the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty between Tuscany and Bohemia from 1737 to 1849. The book includes chapters dedicated to the genesis of 'English' or informal gardens, their spread in Italy and Central Europe, and addresses not only contemporary theoretical writings on garden art but also the intellectual life of Florence in the second third of the 18th century. The documentary appendix contains highly valued transcriptions of selected, unpublished archival materials. In addition to the analysis of valuable archival documents, the publication emphasizes the historical and cultural context of the former Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the perspective of new aesthetic and ethical trends of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century - particularly Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and Romanticism.