Hortus conclusus

Hortus conclusus is a Latin term, meaning literally "enclosed garden". Both words in hortus conclusus refer linguistically to enclosure.^[1] It describes a type of garden that was enclosed as a practical concern, a major theme in the history of gardening, where walled gardens were and are common.^[2] The garden room is a similar feature, usually less fully enclosed.

Having roots in the Song of Songs in the Hebrew scriptures, the term hortus conclusus has importantly been applied as an emblematic attribute and a title of the Virgin Mary in Medieval and Renaissance poetry^[3] and art, first appearing in paintings and manuscript illuminations about 1330^[4]^[5]

^ Clifford, A History of Garden design, (New York:Praeger) 1963:17.
^ Rob Aben and Saskia de Wit, The Enclosed Garden: History and Development of the Hortus Conclusus and its Re-Introduction into the Present-Day Urban Landscape (Rotterdam) 1999. A typological catalogue of design features and a design manual.
^ Stanley Stewart, The Enclosed Garden: The Tradition and Image in Seventeenth-Century Poetry (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press) 1966, discussed late sixteenth and seventeenth-century poetry in English; its four first chapters trace the hortus conclusus theme in European literatures and the visual arts.
^ Michelle P. Brown, "The World of the Luttrell Psalter" British Library 2006,
^ Brian E. Daley, "The 'Closed Garden'and the 'Sealed Fountain': Song of Songs 4:12 in the Late Medieval Iconography of Mary", Elizabeth B. Macdougall, editor, Medieval Gardens, Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium 9) 1986, traced the sudden development about 1400 of painted images of the Virgin Mary in a hortus conclusus.

[1] Clifford, A History of Garden design, (New York:Praeger) 1963:17.

[2] Rob Aben and Saskia de Wit, The Enclosed Garden: History and Development of the Hortus Conclusus and its Re-Introduction into the Present-Day Urban Landscape (Rotterdam) 1999. A typological catalogue of design features and a design manual.

[3] Stanley Stewart, The Enclosed Garden: The Tradition and Image in Seventeenth-Century Poetry (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press) 1966, discussed late sixteenth and seventeenth-century poetry in English; its four first chapters trace the hortus conclusus theme in European literatures and the visual arts.

[4] Michelle P. Brown, "The World of the Luttrell Psalter" British Library 2006,

[5] Brian E. Daley, "The 'Closed Garden'and the 'Sealed Fountain': Song of Songs 4:12 in the Late Medieval Iconography of Mary", Elizabeth B. Macdougall, editor, Medieval Gardens, Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium 9) 1986, traced the sudden development about 1400 of painted images of the Virgin Mary in a hortus conclusus.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]