‘Capability’ Brown exhibition at Compton Verney

Compton Verney

18 July 2011

Professor Tim Mowl, Director of the Institute for Landscape and Garden History, is co-curator of the first-ever exhibition about landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown – and a book by one of his recent PhD students is being published to tie in with the exhibition.

The exhibition is being held at Compton Verney House, an 18th-century manor in Warwickshire with gardens designed by Brown, and focuses on famous ‘Capability’ Brown landscapes in the Midlands region, including Croome, Charlecote Park, Combe Abbey and Compton Verney itself.

The exhibition, curated by Professor Mowl and Compton Verney’s Director, Georgian expert Dr Steven Parissien, showcases the latest research on the design and use of Georgian landscapes with paintings, maps, accounts, historic guns, manuals and commissioned photography.

A team of postgraduate students from the University’s MA programme in Garden History (of which Professor Mowl is Director) was also involved in the planning and curation of the exhibition.

To coincide with the exhibition, a book, Capability Brown and the English Landscape Garden, written by Laura Mayer – a recent PhD graduate in Garden History from Bristol – has been published.

‘Capability’ Brown and the landscapes of Middle England runs until 2 October 2011 at Compton Verney.