The Monster in the Garden: Reframing Renaissance Landscape Design

Renaissance gardens are often idealized as benign Arcadian paradises. This project concerns their more ambiguous side, indicated by the common though overlooked representation of monsters within their confines. The monster is a key figure in Renaissance culture, the paradigmatic 'other', and a cipher for contemporary anxieties about social life and identity. The figure of the monster in the garden will be considered from the perspective of the extensive early modern literature on monstrosity and difference for the first time, resulting in a book-length revisionist account of Renaissance landscape design.