Editing Capability Brown (section)

==Subsequent reputation==
[[File:Memorial to Capability Brown in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Capability Brown in the church of St Peter and St Paul, [[Fenstanton]], Cambridgeshire]]
Brown's reputation declined rapidly after his death, because the English landscape style did not convey the dramatic conflict and awesome power of wild nature. A reaction against the harmony and calmness of Brown's landscapes was inevitable; the landscapes lacked the [[sublime (philosophy)|sublime]] thrill which members of the [[Romanticism|Romantic generation]] (such as [[Richard Payne Knight]] and [[Uvedale Price]]) looked for in their ideal landscape, where the painterly inspiration would come from [[Salvator Rosa]] rather than [[Claude Lorrain]].

During the 19th century he was widely criticised,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/475793/Sir-Uvedale-Price-1st-Baronet?anchor=ref59941 |title=Sir Uvedale Price, 1st Baronet |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2012 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> but during the twentieth century his reputation rose again. [[Tom Turner]] has suggested that the latter resulted from a favourable account of his talent in [[Marie-Luise Gothein]]'s ''History of Garden Art''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bWhRAAAAMAAJ|title=A History of Garden Art|first=Marie Luise Schroeter|last=Gothein|date=22 November 1966|publisher=Hacker Art Books|accessdate=22 November 2024|via=Google Books}}</ref> which predated [[Christopher Hussey (historian)|Christopher Hussey]]'s positive account of Brown in ''The Picturesque'' (1927). [[Dorothy Stroud]] wrote the first full monograph on Capability Brown, fleshing out the generic attributions with documentation from country house estate offices.

Later landscape architects like [[William Sawrey Gilpin]] would opine that Brown's 'natural curves' were as artificial as the straight lines that were common in French gardens.<ref name="Clifford">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225753/garden-and-landscape-design/26254/Renaissance-to-modern-15th-to-20th-centuries?anchor=ref393494 |title=Garden and landscape design |first1=Derek Plint |last1=Clifford |year=2012 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], Encyclopædia Britannica Online |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc |access-date=14 March 2012}}</ref> Brown's portrait by [[Nathaniel Dance-Holland|Nathaniel Dance]], c. 1773, is conserved in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]], London. His work has often been favourably compared and contrasted ("the antithesis") to the œuvre of [[André Le Nôtre]], the French [[French formal garden|''jardin à la française'']] landscape architect.<ref name="Lancelot" /><ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |title=André Le Nôtre |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc |date=12 March 2012 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/333395/Andre-Le-Notre/Andre-Le-Notre |access-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> He became both "rich and honoured and had 'improved' a greater acreage of ground than any landscape architect" who preceded him.<ref name="Lancelot" /><ref name="Clifford" />

A festival to celebrate the tercentenary of Brown's birth was held in 2016. The {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130920033055/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/ Capability Brown Festival 2016]}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920033055/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=20 September 2013|title=Home page {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018}}</ref> published a large amount of new research on Brown's work<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/map|title=INTERACTIVE MAP {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408051650/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/map|archive-date=8 April 2019|url-status=usurped}}</ref> and held over 500 events across Britain as part of the celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/executive_summary_of_evaluation_report_on_the_capability_brown_festival_2016.pdf|title=Executive Summary of Evaluation Report on the Capability Brown Festival 2016|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140324/https://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/executive_summary_of_evaluation_report_on_the_capability_brown_festival_2016.pdf|archivedate=12 June 2018}}</ref> Royal Mail issued a series of Landscape Stamps<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/news/royal-mail-marks-300th-anniversary-capability-browns-birth|title=Royal Mail Marks 300th Anniversary of Capability Brown's Birth - News {{!}} Capability Brown|website=www.capabilitybrown.org|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408051802/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/news/royal-mail-marks-300th-anniversary-capability-browns-birth|archive-date=8 April 2019|url-status=usurped}}</ref> in his honour in August 2016.

The Gardens Trust with support from [[Historic England]], published ''Vulnerability Brown: Capability Brown landscapes at risk''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/vulnerability_brown_for_website_with_hyperlinks_smaller_file.pdf|title=Vulnerability Brown|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-date=20 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120195320/http://www.capabilitybrown.org/sites/default/files/vulnerability_brown_for_website_with_hyperlinks_smaller_file.pdf|url-status=usurped}}</ref> in October 2017 to review the issues facing the survival of these landscapes as well as suggested solutions.

A commemorative fountain in [[Westminster Abbey]]’s cloister garth was dedicated for Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown after Evensong on Tuesday 29 May 2018 by the [[Dean of Westminster]], Dr [[John Hall (priest)|John Hall]]. The fountain sits over an old monastic well in the garth. It was designed by [[Ptolemy Dean]], the Abbey's [[Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey|Surveyor of the Fabric]], and was developed with the assistance of gardener [[Alan Titchmarsh]]. The fountain was made in lead by sculptor Brian Turner.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/capability-brown-fountain-dedicated/#i25017|title='Capability' Brown fountain dedicated |work=Westminster Abbey|access-date=7 June 2018}}</ref>