Four Seasons of Flowers is an illustrated volume that presents a selection of the manuscripts, herbals, and printed botanical texts from the Rare Book Collection at Dumbarton Oaks. Representing pivotal works in the intellectual history of Europe from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, these drawings, books, and manuscripts are among the most significant materials conserved in the Rare Book Reading Room. They offer an illuminating overview of the history of botany as a modern science, from its inception to the present day. Each text is accompanied by a remarkable set of botanical illustrations. Their scientific accuracy and aesthetic beauty testify to the importance of the visual image once the efficacy of the printing press as an instrument for the furtherance of knowledge in the sciences and technology—from anatomy to zoology and from astronomy to botany—had been fully recognized. Botanical illustrations constitute an indispensable source of information for historians of not only botanical sciences but also garden and landscape architecture, thus shedding light on the study of plants in different periods, as well as on the evolution of the visual arts in areas where the representation of the plant world played a central role.

This study highlights a selection of garden ornaments from Dumbarton Oaks, the Washington, D.C., estate of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss. Drawings from Beatrix Farrand’s office and excerpts from her Plant Book for Dumbarton Oaks, combined with original period photographs, endeavor to show the stylistic sources, evolution of design, and iconography. Other works were selected that reflect an evolution of thought about the gardens and illustrate the conscious choices that were made in shaping the landscape. As Lanning Roper states in Dumbarton Oaks: A Great American Garden, “The garden ornament deserves special comment. Mrs. Bliss had made a particular study of this subject and wished to show the variety of media that can be used and often effectively combined… All ornaments are carefully placed and one is impressed both by the quality, inconspicuousness and the originality of the conception.” Garden ornaments were logical extensions of the Blisses’ collections of art objects.

Inscriptions play a significant role in the decoration of the grounds and have been included as well. The majority of them relate to the personal lives of Robert and Mildred Bliss and reflect the strong humanist tradition represented by Dumbarton Oaks.

Landscape Body Dwelling documents and offers reflections on Charles Simond’s inaugural installation for Dumbarton Oaks’ contemporary art series, which launched in spring 2009. This volume demonstrates how contemporary culture connects us with the past, reinvigorating historical tropes while enlivening the institutions that continue to speak them.