During the Renaissance, gardeners began to introduce fantastical elements into garden designs. These elements drew on classical mythology and contemporary Italian literature. One of the major influences was Ovid's Metamorphoses. Written during the reign of the Emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC- AD 14), the Metamorphoses provided a mythic history of Rome from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar in 42 BC. Most of the epic took place in a theatrical landscape and illustrations in editions published during the Renaissance through to the mid-seventeenth century often depicted this landscape in the guise of an Italian formal garden complete with topiary and statues. These illustrations were also reflected in garden design. The gardens at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey for example, were compared to the mythological landscape of Ovid, a landscape "designed for the woodland gods and fauns" while those at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli near Rome were noted for the frieze depicting characters from the Metamorphoses.

Entry adapted from Painting Paradise London 2015.