The Lay of the Land

Mapping the Imagination, Lay of the Land, etching, photographic, cartographic, municipal sunken gardens, decorative, plants, watercolour, map, farm, parish, Kent, land, Jamaica, The Negroe Market, slave trade, Ptolemy, 'Geographia', Renaissance, geography, handbook, symbols, labels, cartography, landscape, imaginative, utilitarian,

  • Henry Maxted, 'A Map of a Farm and 12 Pieces of Land thereto Belonging; Lying in the Parish of Reculver in the County of Kent'



    Henry Maxted (active about 1730)
    'A Map of a Farm and 12 Pieces of Land thereto Belonging; Lying in the Parish of Reculver in the County of Kent'
    1730
    Pen and watercolour on vellum
    Museum no. E.3495-1931
    Given by Lady Capel Cure

    Maps such as this were legal documents, recording land ownership and marking boundaries, roads and rights of way. They were also useful in estate management. This map mixes diagrammatic features with fanciful pictorial elements. It is colour-coded to distinguish different types of ground.

  • William Miller, 'Design for municipal sunken gardens', about 1908



    William Miller (1828-1909)
    'Design for municipal sunken gardens'
    About 1908
    Pen and ink and watercolour on paper
    Museum no. E.810-1979

    Miller was a noted designer of parks and gardens. As is evident in this plan, his approach to design emphasised the decorative pattern of the layout rather than the three-dimensional aspect of a garden. The pattern would have been executed with brightly coloured bedding plants.

  • Bob Chaplin, 'Pathway to Firle', 1976



    Bob Chaplin (born 1947)
    'Pathway to Firle'
    1976
    Etching and aquatint on paper
    Museum no. E.418-1976
    © Bob Chaplin

    This print offers two complementary views of the same place: one photographic, the other cartographic. This use of map imagery helps us to understand the character of the landscape depicted in the photograph, but it makes clear that neither method of representation can give us a complete picture of a place.

  • George G. André, 'Draughtsman's Handbook', 1874



    George G. André
    'Draughtsman's Handbook'
    1874
    Lithograph on paper
    Illustrated by B. Alexander
    Published E.&F. Spon, London
    National Art Library pressmark 30.B.98

    This playful imaginative landscape disguises a utilitarian purpose. Fronting a handbook aimed at encouraging best practice in map drawing, it shows the standard map symbols and labels. It reflects a growing interest in the science of cartography after the Ordnance Survey was set up in 1790.