Photograph by Edwin Smith

Rousham, Oxfordshire, 1966

A serene and inspiring view of Rousham and its landscape garden. Representing the first phase of English landscape design it remains almost as William Kent (1685-1748) left it, one of the few gardens of this date to have escaped alteration. Many of features which delighted eighteenth century visitors to Rousham are still in situ, such as these, the seven arched Praeneste and ornamental lake. Even today, it is much as it was when Edwin made photographs there.

As recently as May 2004, one of Edwin's photographs of Rousham was used in The Observer newspaper magazine to illustrate an article on 'Gardens in Art'. Nearly 40 years after the picture was made and more than 30 years after his death his vision lives on.