Aménagements urbains et reconfiguration d'une sociabilité aristocratique : les jardins viennois du XVIIIe siècle

Abstract

History of the 18th-century Viennese gardens is a social history of the Imperial Residence and of the enlightened absolutism. The population growth modifies the places and the practice of the aristocratic sociability. To the garden-palaces of the Glacis’ South and Western faubourgs, where on the early century a sociability organized by the most important Imperial princely families takes place, succeeds under the Coregency (1765-1780) the will of Joseph II to focus the aristocratic sociability on the large public gardens, dedicated by the supposed “gentleman” Emperor to the social delights. At last the enlightened nobility develops, in the little suburban gardens and cottages, a more discreet and libertine sociability. The garden is there nothing but a summer salon. Hence, the Viennese garden is a place of demonstration, representation or experimentation showing multiple Spanish, French, English and Ottoman influences.