Review

Reviewed Work(s): Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West by
Ken Worpole
Review by: Doris Francis
Source: Garden History , Winter, 2003, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Winter, 2003), pp. 229-230
Published by: The Gardens Trust

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1587304

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 REVIEWS 229

Sandra
Sandra Berresford,
Berresford,ItalianItalian
Memorial Sculptureremoved,
Memorial removed, so
Sculpturesothat
thatcustomers
customers would
wouldbe unaware
be unaware
1820-1940: A Legacy of Love (London: they
they were
werenot
notthe
thecatalogues
catalogues
of of
thethe
local
local
masons.
masons.
Frances Lincoln, 2004), 256 pp, 450 illus. Thanks
Thanks to
toISMC,
ISMC,for
forinstance,
instance,copies
copies
of Giulio
of Giulio
in colour, ?40.00 (hbk), ISBN 0-7112-2384- Monteverde's Oneto memorial from Genoa were
X erected in Norwood and Wandsworth cemeteries
in south London in the 1920s; the well-known
It is too late to recommend this book as a girl holding a rosary, one of the few remaining
Christmas gift, but it does contain a more sculptures in Spring Bank Cemetery, Hull, also
stunning set of photographs than any recent appeared in an ISMC catalogue. It is worth
coffee-table book. Its subject is too little known in noting that one widely distributed monument,
this country: the monumental sculpture of Italian a copy of which is sited prominently near the
cemeteries in the nineteenth and early twentieth entrance to Sunderland Cemetery, does not
centuries. These cemeteries, and above all the appear in this book because its creator was not
Cimitero Monumentale in Milan, are the world's Italian: the American sculptor William Wetmore
best outdoor sculpture galleries; and the history Storey's grieving angel for the grave of his wife in
of nineteenth-century sculpture is distorted by the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
the absence from the textbooks of names such as This book sets a high production standard
Giovanni Battista Villa, Giulio Monteverde and against which any future contributions to the
Leonardo Bistolfi. But fashion and the relegation subject will be judged.
of cemeteries to a category situated somewhere
below Art in the official hierarchy have conspired BRENT ELLIOTT

to ensure that these artists are ignored. There Royal Horticultural Society, Lindley
have been good guidebooks to a small handful of 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P
Italian cemeteries, most notably the Staglieno in
Genoa and the Verano in Rome, but it is striking
that it has fallen to an Anglo-American team to
publish the first decent study of this subject. Ken Worpole, Last Landscapes: The Ar
The text is arranged partly by chronology of the Cemetery in the West (L
and partly by theme and subject matter, with Reaktion, 2003), 223 pp., illus. i
a good bibliography and gazetteer. There is an and black-and-white, ?22.00 (pb
introductory essay by James Stevens Curl, who 1-86189-161-X
discusses Enlightenment trends in memorials as a
background to the nineteenth century, and another Last Landscapes urges that the cemetery - as a
by Fred S. Licht on Italian statuary after Canova. unique cultural space basic to our human identity
Sandra Berresford has a tendency to concentrate and history - be reinstated to its meaningful place
on marble sculpture to the detriment of bronze: in the urban geography of the twenty-first century
there is no mention, for example, of Bringiotti, Today's public, Ken Worpole contends, has no
whose life-size bronze semi-reliefs are one of the 'abolished' death, but rather it is the architects
exciting features of the interwar galleries of and the landscape designers who have neglected th
Staglieno. And, while it can hardly be disputed aesthetics of commemoration. Through first-hand
that the quality of marble sculpture has declined descriptions, augmented by Larraine Worpole'
since the Second World War, the second half colour of photographs of memorial spaces in
the twentieth century saw bronzes added to the Europe and North America, Last Landscapes
Monumentale that are the imaginative equalseeks of to create an informed public that values
any of their predecessors. Perhaps all this merely the social role of the cemetery and supports the
indicates that there should be another book to design of new, culturally appropriate, symbolic
follow this one. and institutional forms. Worpole is known for
One of the aspects of Italian funerary his writings on the plight of urban parks, and
sculpture of the greatest potential interest to
Last Landscapes, like his earlier report on The
Cemetery in the City (1997),1 extends his civic
readers of Garden History is glanced at but lightly
here: its export. The railways made possible concern about urban open spaces to the current
the movement of, first, Italian stone and, then,
debate on the crisis facing British cemeteries.
Italian sculpture from country to country; and by Worpole opens his protest against the
the First World War, companies had arisen that cultural marginalization of the cemetery with
a discussion of the spatial geography of the
acted as wholesale agents for the distribution of
monuments. The history of these companies, like village churchyard, the popular symbol of social
the history of British monumental masonry as and a cultural continuity. In such traditional
whole, has yet to be written. ISMC and Mander burial places, Worpole contends, the dead share
& Germain were the leaders; their catalogues canterritory and identity with the living, define the
sometimes be found in the offices of the longer-boundaries of human existence, and provide a
established monumental masons, but almost sense of place and social memory. Here, the past
always with their front covers and title-pagesis carried into the present and connected to the

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 230 GARDEN HISTORY 31: 2

future, as as the
the dead
dead provide
provide an an on-going
on-goingmoralmoral
cemeteries
cemeteries more
moreaccessible
accessibletoto
the
thegeneral
general
reader,
reader,
presence.
presence. Such
Such still,
still, timeless
timeless places
placesoffer
offeraasenseLast
Last Landscapes
sense Landscapeshas
hasachieved
achieved itsits
worthwhile
worthwhile
of both
both presence
presence and and absence,
absence, of of solitude
solitudeandand
objective.
consolation.
consolation. Worpole's
Worpole's churchyard
churchyarddescriptions
descriptions DORIS FRANCIS

draw onon the

the writings
writings of of Robert
Robert Pogue
PogueHarrison,
Harrison,Museum of International Folk Art
whose recent
recent TheThe Dominion
Dominion of of the
theDead
Dead(2003)2
(2003)2 NM, USA
sets the
the intellectual
intellectual parameters
parameters for fortoday's
today'srevived
revived
discussion
discussion of of death.
death. Both
Both Harrison
Harrisonand andWorpole
Worpole REFERENCES
assert the
the significance
significance of of the
the places
placesand
andpractices
practices
of death,
death, and
and lament
lament that
that in
in today's
today'smobile
mobilesociety,
society, 1 Ken Worpole, The Cemetery in the
the exact
exact place
place of
of one's
one's own
own future
futureinterment
interment City
isis (London: Comedia for the Gulbenk
often uncertain
uncertain and and frequently
frequently avoided.
avoided. Foundation, 1997).
Landscapes
Landscapes shapeshape human
human experience
experienceto to 2 Robert Pogue Harrison, The Domini
create meaning
meaning and and identity.
identity. ButBut inintoday's
today's of the Dead (Chicago: University of Chi
funerary
funerary settings,
settings, Worpole
Worpole argues,
argues,the therise
risePress,
of 2003).
of
cremation,
cremation, the the dereliction
dereliction of
of Victorian
Victoriangarden
garden
cemeteries
cemeteries and and the
the geographical
geographical displacement
displacement
of new,
new, 'sterile'
'sterile' burial
burial grounds
grounds to tothe
theurban
urban
fringe distance
distance the
the dead
dead from
from the
theliving, Brenda McLean, George Forrest Plant Hunter
living,thereby
thereby
accentuating
accentuating the the fear
fear of
of death
death and threatening (Woodbridge: Antique Collectors Club,
andthreatening
to create
create 'cities
'cities without
without memory'. Stockholm's 2004), 239 pp., ?29.50 (hbk), ISBN 1-
memory'.Stockholm's
85149-461-8
Woodland
Woodland Cemetery,
Cemetery, in in contrast,
contrast, isispictured
picturedasas
offering
offering aa new
new kind
kind ofof urban
urban cemetery
cemeterydesign
design
where the
the importance
importance of of local
local natural
naturalforms, George Forrest Plant Hunter will appeal to a wide
forms,
as well as
as the
the history
history and
and spirit
spirit of
ofthe range of readers. As with most in the Antique
theplace,
place,
are respected.
respected. In
In such
such naturalistic
naturalisticlandscapes, Collectors series, it is scholarly yet very readable
landscapes,
Worpole
Worpole contends,
contends, aa new
new kind
kind of
of garden and beautifully produced, with evocative, often
gardenlanguage
language
and a spiritual,
spiritual, healing
healing aesthetic,
aesthetic, expressivepoignant,
expressiveof
of original photographs, interspersed with
human emotions and cultural mores of social crisp contemporary images. It tells the story of
perhaps the most intrepid and successful of British
equality, are offered. He foresees the emergence
plant collectors, whose many outstanding garden
of a new sensibility linking death and the afterlife
introductions from the mountainous borders
to ecological concerns, and urges architects and
landscape designers to crystallize these of Yunnan, Tibet and Northern Burma include
nascent
ideas in new civic cemeteries, such as the Acer davidii, Gentiana sino-ornata, Primula
woodland burial park, Colney Wood, in East sikkimensis and Rhododendron sinogrande.
Anglia. Landscapes created by Charles Jencks, Whilst this book is very much a history rather than
Derek Jarman, Andy Goldsworthy and Ian a biography, it reveals much about the man, his
Hamilton Finlay are also cited as echoing ancient values and the now almost unrecognizable social
memorializing traditions - cairns, spiral paths, milieu in which he operated. Forrest emerges as a
standing stones, the art of inscription - whilst complex, enigmatic character, indestructibly self-
simultaneously offering a possible range of new confident yet vulnerable; classically Victorian
forms that are sensitive to personal loss, public with regards to his relationships with his family;
memory and the interdependence of life. and yet surprisingly modern in his attitudes to
Much of Last Landscapes is a 'cemetery the native people with whom he worked. Other
travelogue' exploring the sacred geography than his raw grit, Forrest's ability to learn local
of death. Memorial spaces from the Etruscan languages, form constructive relationships with
his native collectors and maintain them across
tombs at Cerveteri to Cesar Portela's cemetery
at Fisterra, on the west coast of Spain, are his expeditions is perhaps the overriding reason
described and beautifully photographed in for his success. In stark contrast to many of
themed chapters. These chapters, however, would Forrest's plant-hunting contemporaries (e.g.
better serve the reader if tangential discussions Frank Kingdom Ward), he appears to respect
and gratuitous comments were eliminated to and enjoy the company of his collectors and,
focus more on cultural geography, and if the hence, was able to tap into their local knowledge
discussion of British cemeteries wrestled harder and scour much larger areas more intensively
than would otherwise be the case. Towards the
with the complexity of the issues - the shortage
end of the twentieth century, plant hunting was
of burial space, the needs of a culturally diverse
increasing vilified as first world plunder, but
population, the proposed reuse of graves, the lack
of governmental regulation, and the financing, Forrest's expeditions have at least a semblance of
management and maintenance of both historic being joint ventures.
and newly designed funerary landscapes. Despite Each of his seven expeditions between 1904
these shortcomings, Worpole's enthusiasm and for 1932 are described in detail, with considerable
cemeteries is infectious. By making death and attention paid to the plants themselves and the
landscapes in which Forrest collected. There is

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