II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

II.
Fig. 1: View of the Arborium
Theodoricum (photo: R. Stripf).
76
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
On his return to Schwetzingen Sckell was
commissioned to lay out a park in the English
style. He had brought a shipload of trees
from England. A year later, in 1777, Sckell’s
fi rst work, the “Arborium Theodoricum”, was
taking shape. The fi rst landscape garden at
Schwetzingen was supplied with another
canal to serve as a new outer boundary.
„The merit of a natural garden is not in its
great size, but in its inherent artistic value,
its beautiful shapes and images” 4 , Sckell was
to write later. In fact, he had all the elements
of a landscape garden at his disposal. The
long narrow island created by the canals was
modelled into a gentle valley and laid out as a
meadow surrounded by trees and shrubs. Two
meandering paths (the “belt walk”) presented
an ever-changing scenery. Skilfully arranged
groups of trees and shrubs guided the visitor’s
eye down the valley. Dense shrubbery hid the
rectangular canals from view. In one place
Sckell had the paths and canals meet in a complicated
knot; this is the garden’s picturesque
high point. Water is presented as a serene
pool, a thundering cascade and a meandering
stream. Because the layout of the Arborium
Theodoricum dispenses with axes, the view
4 Quoted in: Hubert Wolfgang Wertz, “Schöne Formen und
Bilder”, in: Fürstliche Gartenlust – Historische Schlossgärten in
Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 44-55, p. 47.
towards the Temple of Botany opens up as if
by chance – the structure is not intended to
be the central “point de vue” of this part of the
garden.
In accordance with gardening theory, the garden
was supposed to blend into the landscape.
Sckell’s inspiration was landscape painting:
“With regard to the different shades of plants,
it should always be kept in mind that the light
green trees must be placed in the foreground
and the dark green ones in the background, so
the former stand out clearly against the latter,
and display their shapes and silhouettes to
advantage.” 5
Imports and Experts
The main focus of the new was on its theoretical
and scientifi c uses. Unlike the great nursery,
which simply supplied trees, the arboretum
was a collection of valuable plants on display.
Both areas of the garden combined made up a
whole of theory and practice. The fi rst exotic
specimens were delivered from England,
France and the Netherlands to Schwetzingen,
in the shape of young plants or seeds. Many
interests and areas of research could create
the scientifi c impetus to lay out an arboretum.
Plants were collected according to geographic
or systematic criteria; the demands they made
on their site could be taken into account as
well as aesthetic considerations. The systematic
classifi cation of exotic woody plants
was made easier too. Sckell himself gives an
indication of the variety of species suitable for
a garden: “The plant world offers more than
four to fi ve hundred trees and shrubs, foreign
as well as native, for the garden artist to use
in decorating his garden and creating picturesque
combinations.” 6 Sckell drew up long
lists of “native and foreign trees and shrubs
that can be used in most gardens” 7 based on
different sets of criteria. Even today they
are still used for the re-planting of historic
gardens.
5 Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, Beiträge zur bildenden Gartenkunst
für angehende Gartenkünstler und Gartenliebhaber,
München 1825, rpt. Worms 1982, p. 112.
6 Sckell 1825, p. 109.
7 Sckell 1825, p. 238.