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Gertrude Jekyll
In this remarkable biography, Sally Festing shows us how impressions of Gertrude Jekyll have become distorted in the popular imagination: how her real contribution to garden design is underrated, especially the profound influence she was to have upon the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. The plain, myopic figure who stares sternly from Victorian photographs was, the author suggests, altogether more complicated, abrasive, autocratic, impatient, fun-loving, and lovable than she has ever been made out to be. An illuminating portrait of a formidable and admirable woman.
384 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 8, 2015
Iron Lane, Bramley
Description: In this remarkable biography, Sally Festing shows us how impressions of Gertrude Jekyll have become distorted in the popular imagination: how her real contribution to garden design is underrated, especially the profound influence she was to have upon the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. The plain, myopic figure who stares sternly from Victorian photographs was, the author suggests, altogether more complicated, abrasive, autocratic, impatient, fun-loving, and lovable than she has ever been made out to be. An illuminating portrait of a formidable and admirable woman.
Opening: A sturdy little girl stands in Green Park clutching a mop-headed dandelion.
What is going on with the strapline here on grramazon: '2a Biography'. Too dry to read, I skimmed. Wouldn't mind a bio of Edwin Lutyens as a contrast, although not from this particular stable. The following pictures are not from this book
Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was not just a gardener. She was an artist, photographer, designer and social historian whose work was highly regarded.
I adore this one of Algiers by Jekyll, The next one here is also Algiers:
March 12, 2021
Well-researched, interesting, a bit exhaustive for the average layperson I imagine (it takes half of the book before you get to "Gertrude Jekyll: Gardener" which is why, I imagine, most people would be interested in her as a subject.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
April 10, 2024
I was a little concerned when the opening pages of this book started talking about a 'distorted' popular impression of Jekyll and how Festing was going to put that right - sure enough, it became obvious that the author had decided what Jekyll was like and was only interested in information which supported her view!
Festing claims that Jekyll was a self publicist who was skilled at manipulating public opinion. As proof, she offers the evidence that Jekyll, who normally dressed in "frumpish" clothes, dressed smartly to have her portrait painted by Nicholson, and that she claimed to "try to avoid the spirit of intolerance" while being known for her impatience. It doesn't seem to occur to Festing that it is normal for even a scruffy individual to make an effort with their appearance on a special occasion, while someone who is aware of their own impatience can try to be patient, even if they don't always succeed. Most strangely of all, Festing claims that Jekyll's death was a "careful performance" - are we really meant to believe that a sick, elderly woman, moments before she died, is 'performing' a deathbed scene? The only reason to believe so is Festing's desperation to prove that Jekyll was not who she appeared to be.
Festing also claims that Jekyll was not a very good artist, while only providing one example of her artwork - a rough pencil sketch of a donkey. There are numerous examples of Jekyll's work still in existence, and while they may not be works of genius, she was certainly a very accomplished painter. It is a shame that Festing did not include some illustrations of Jekyll's watercolours so that we could make up our own minds - perhaps she was afraid that if she did so, we might disagree with her criticisms of the artist's ability?
There are also numerous examples of inaccuracies and contradictions. For example, both Gertrude and her brother had an extreme sensitivity to noise, and because their father shared the same sensitivity, Festing concludes that being quiet for his sake meant that "his children in turn became oversensitized." This fits in with Festing's beliefs that Jekyll was exaggerating her sensitivity, but hypersensitive hearing often runs in families. Writing about 20-something Jekyll, Festing refers to a German doctor who became romantically attached to her only to be rejected, yet later in the book, she claims "No man had found her sufficiently attractive to want to marry. For a Victorian, spinsterhood was likely to be to some extent humiliating..." She also states that "Since the Victorians thought it vulgar for women to work, only working-class women did so." Considering the numerous accounts of lady governesses, companions, school teachers etc from the Victorian Era, it is hard to understand where Festing gets the idea that no upper class woman earned her living!
Festing also portrays Mrs C W Earle as a confirmed feminist. This is the same Mrs Earle who, in her books, referred to spinsters as failures, advised young girls to accept their first offer of marriage because "the gift of youth is the only real thing they will ever have to give a man" and to marry him "out of a sort of gratitude". She also encourages young brides to be accepting of their husbands' affairs and to offer to raise any illegitimate children resulting from these affairs - but they must be sure to make the offer "in tenderness and love" to ensure their poor husbands do not feel any guilt or shame... Although Festing mentions Earle's books, it's possible that she hasn't read them - but even so, I'm still trying to work out where she got the idea that Earle was a feminist!
There are some good illustrations in this book, and Festing also quotes widely from the writings of Jekyll and her contemporaries, which does help to give a flavour of the different people and their times, and these things save the book from being 1 star only. But there are just too many assumptions and inaccuracies for me to recommend this to anyone.
Festing claims that Jekyll was a self publicist who was skilled at manipulating public opinion. As proof, she offers the evidence that Jekyll, who normally dressed in "frumpish" clothes, dressed smartly to have her portrait painted by Nicholson, and that she claimed to "try to avoid the spirit of intolerance" while being known for her impatience. It doesn't seem to occur to Festing that it is normal for even a scruffy individual to make an effort with their appearance on a special occasion, while someone who is aware of their own impatience can try to be patient, even if they don't always succeed. Most strangely of all, Festing claims that Jekyll's death was a "careful performance" - are we really meant to believe that a sick, elderly woman, moments before she died, is 'performing' a deathbed scene? The only reason to believe so is Festing's desperation to prove that Jekyll was not who she appeared to be.
Festing also claims that Jekyll was not a very good artist, while only providing one example of her artwork - a rough pencil sketch of a donkey. There are numerous examples of Jekyll's work still in existence, and while they may not be works of genius, she was certainly a very accomplished painter. It is a shame that Festing did not include some illustrations of Jekyll's watercolours so that we could make up our own minds - perhaps she was afraid that if she did so, we might disagree with her criticisms of the artist's ability?
There are also numerous examples of inaccuracies and contradictions. For example, both Gertrude and her brother had an extreme sensitivity to noise, and because their father shared the same sensitivity, Festing concludes that being quiet for his sake meant that "his children in turn became oversensitized." This fits in with Festing's beliefs that Jekyll was exaggerating her sensitivity, but hypersensitive hearing often runs in families. Writing about 20-something Jekyll, Festing refers to a German doctor who became romantically attached to her only to be rejected, yet later in the book, she claims "No man had found her sufficiently attractive to want to marry. For a Victorian, spinsterhood was likely to be to some extent humiliating..." She also states that "Since the Victorians thought it vulgar for women to work, only working-class women did so." Considering the numerous accounts of lady governesses, companions, school teachers etc from the Victorian Era, it is hard to understand where Festing gets the idea that no upper class woman earned her living!
Festing also portrays Mrs C W Earle as a confirmed feminist. This is the same Mrs Earle who, in her books, referred to spinsters as failures, advised young girls to accept their first offer of marriage because "the gift of youth is the only real thing they will ever have to give a man" and to marry him "out of a sort of gratitude". She also encourages young brides to be accepting of their husbands' affairs and to offer to raise any illegitimate children resulting from these affairs - but they must be sure to make the offer "in tenderness and love" to ensure their poor husbands do not feel any guilt or shame... Although Festing mentions Earle's books, it's possible that she hasn't read them - but even so, I'm still trying to work out where she got the idea that Earle was a feminist!
There are some good illustrations in this book, and Festing also quotes widely from the writings of Jekyll and her contemporaries, which does help to give a flavour of the different people and their times, and these things save the book from being 1 star only. But there are just too many assumptions and inaccuracies for me to recommend this to anyone.
August 3, 2020
I found this one a little hard to enjoy. The text seemed to jump around alot in names and information that made it hard to engage with and follow.
Not what I was expecting in a biography I guess, as I was quite interested in Gertrude Jekyll - this didn't seem like a good place to start.
Not what I was expecting in a biography I guess, as I was quite interested in Gertrude Jekyll - this didn't seem like a good place to start.
February 18, 2026
This is a solid informative biography and I enjoyed finding out more about Gertrude Jekyll as a gardener and garden designer. There was a lot of other information, including social minutiae that I did skim over.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews