ANONYMOUS ITALIAN, 16TH CENTURY
The façade of a villa with a rusticated colonnade and walled garden
circaRCIN 912689
This is one of the first attempts in Italian Renaissance art to depict an existing garden accurately. Many of the earliest botanic gardens were similarly laid out with regular rectangular beds. This view probably shows part of a villa garden that was reserved for the growth of medicinal herbs. The roof of the colonnaded loggia is planted with turf or low-growing herbs and is a very early example of a roof garden.