Wilhelm Gottlieb Becker's publication "Der Plauische Grund" (1799) and his contribution to German garden historiography
Final Report Abstract
Wilhelm Gottlieb Becker (1753–1813) and his book ‘Der Plauische Grund’ (1799/1, 1801/2) are at the centre of the project. The research attempts to resolve the discrepancy between Becker's recognition in the circle of contemporary scholars and Enlighteners and his reception today: He belongs to the circle of those Enlightenment thinkers who developed models for the future in the field of landscape-forming aesthetics. His magnificent volume ‘Der Plauische Grund’ attempts to bring together ideas – initially under the image of the landscape garden – but breaks with this idea and sees the aesthetic enhancement of an existing landscape characterised by nature and people as a way of shaping a new society. For him, the interplay of art, horticulture, agriculture, natural history and science, society etc. dissolves into the landscape when it is enhenced and improved by aesthetics and accompanied by real reforms. As his work was written between 1792 and 1799 against the backdrop of dramatic events in European politics, the author also emancipates himself and allows his work to oscillate between possibility and utopia in terms of the history of ideas. In the sense of a romantic dissolution of boundaries, his focus is no longer on the garden, which is defined by the house and the manor, but on the idealisation and communal appropriation of a landscape space. As a social author with a focus on circulation – but also an art expert and established garden specialist – he realises that he can not only serve the traditional here, but also present and move something new. The first edition was a great success and a second followed. It is not only the ‘reform emperor’ Leopold II, but also the magnates of the Habsburg lands who – if not reflect his ideas – at least consider them to be decisive for their dominions. The developments brought about by Napoleonic politics in Europe, as well as Becker's death in 1813, left him no opportunity to develop his ideas further. In the end, they therefore perhaps remained nothing more than utopia. However, this holistic view was not forgotten after his death, but reappeared in the generation of his successors (Lenné, Vorherr, Pückler) due to different backgrounds. They moulded the concept of Becker's ‘Gartenlandschaft’ into ‘Landesverschönerung’, which is still a part of landscape planning today.
Publications
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Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers Der Plauische Grund (1799) als Schritt zu einer neuen Gartenästhetik. Vortrag bei Fachtagung "Zwischen Lex horti und Laissez-faire: Transgressionen im Garten der Vormoderne", Wernigerode 04.11.21
Gottschalk, Anja & Köhler, Marcus
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Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers Werk 'Der Plauische Grund' (1799) und sein Beitrag zur deutschen Gartenhistoriografie. Vortrag im Rahmen des 13. Gartenhistorischen Forschungskolloquiums an der Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover 04.09.21
Gottschalk, Anja
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Harmonische Vielfalt, Mischung und Kontraste: Zu Wald und Gehölzen in Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers ˈDer Plauische Grundˈ (1799), in: Dresdner Geschichtsverein (Hg.): Dresdner Hefte. Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte, H. 151, Dresden 2022, S. 24–34
Gottschalk, Anja
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Leite mich demnach, du holde Schülerin der Natur, gefällige Kunst [...]: – Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers Der Plauische Grund (1799), in: Die Gartenkunst, Jahrgang 34, Heft 1/2022, Worms 2022, S. 67–76
Gottschalk, Anja
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Die Genese der Verschönerungsprogrammatik in den Werken von Wilhelm Gottlieb Becker (1753–1813). Vortrag zum Doktorandenkolloquium TU Dresden/Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Weimar am 14.07.23
Gottschalk, Anja
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Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers Werk Der Plauische Grund (1799) und sein Konzept der Gartenlandschaften. Vortrag im Rahmen des internationalen Symposiums „Verschönerte Landschaften in Mittel- und Mittelosteuropa!“, TU Dresden am 31.03.23
Gottschalk, Anja
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Das Phänomen der verschönerten Landschaft im Überblick. Vortrag (Lehrimport) an der Professur für Denkmalpflege und Entwerfen, TU Dresden 07.11.24
Gottschalk, Anja
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Das Seifersdorfer Thal (1792) als Meilenstein im Wirken Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers und Johann Adolph Darnstedts. Vortrag im Rahmen der Fachtagung Das Seifersdorfer Tal – Facetten einer gestalteten Landschaft, Radeberg am 19.04.24
Gottschalk, Anja
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Vorwort & Danksagung. AHA! Miszellen zur Gartengeschichte und Gartendenkmalpflege(9), 12-17.
Gottschalk, Anja
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Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers "Der Plauische Grund" (1799) als Schritt zu einer neuen Gartenästhetik, in: Gutgesell, Natalie; Juranek, Christian; Ziegler, Hendrik (Hg.): Europäische Gärten der Vormoderne. Zwischen Ordnungswillen und Freiheitsdrang, Wettin-Löbejün 2024, S. 189–205
Gottschalk, Anja & Köhler, Marcus
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Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers (1753–1813) Konzept der Gartenlandschaft als Schritt zu einer neuen Gartenästhetik um 1800. Vortrag im Rahmen der Reihe Hellgrün der Pückler-Gesellschaft e.V. Berlin, Berlin am 01.03.24
Gottschalk, Anja
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Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers Beitrag zur Gartenkunst im ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundert. Vortrag im Rahmen einer Führung der Irish Georgian Society durch das Seifersdorfer Tal am 22.09.24
Gottschalk, Anja
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Wilhelm Gottlieb Beckers Werk »Der Plauische Grund« (1799) und sein Konzept der »Gartenlandschaften«. AHA! Miszellen zur Gartengeschichte und Gartendenkmalpflege(9), 18-43.
Gottschalk, Anja
