The British Library has unveiled a Georgian inspired garden, complete with a cherub of the infant Prince George.
To mark the launch of its new exhibition opening this week, Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain, the library will host the garden on the piazza for five months for visitors to enjoy and explore.
And to remind us that Britain’s fascination with gardening was first sparked in the Georgian era.
Alongside such artworks as Eduardo Paolozzi’s 'Newton' and Antony Gormley’s 'Planets', the installation titled the Georgeobelisk is a six metre high structure and is an ephemeral tribute to the four King Georges as we approach the 300th anniversary of the beginning of the Georgian period and even alludes to the new Prince George with a flying putto figure.
Co-curator of the exhibition, Dr Karen Limper-Herz, who devised the garden section of Georgians Revealed, said: "The Georgeobelisk is a wonderful introduction and link to the fascinating gardening documents in the exhibition where we will show rarely seen material illustrating the beginnings of the British 'obsession' with gardens and garden design."
Loosely based on the architect and playwright Sir John Vanbrugh’s unexecuted entrance gate to the forecourt at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, the Georgeobelisk represents a class of temporary constructions that were very popular in eighteenth-century Britain.
Throughout the Georgian era similar temporary structures were thrown up frequently at private or public entertainments, in town and country, to mark special occasions or important historical events.
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