Painting At A Mogul Palace In The Cotswolds, England

Sezincote Manor: Like An Indian Palace

During a plein air painting sojourn to the Cotswolds, the famous sheep-herding corner of England, I find Sezincote Manor, styled like an Indian palace, reflecting the early periods before English rule in India (called the Raj). Such a garden design was used in Moorish, Persian, and Indian gardens to show that God is in the center of the garden and His influence extends to the four corners of the world
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With running water, flower beds, and shade from fruit trees, such gardens must have been welcome relief from the heat of the desert. These gardens are an oasis.

Sezincote is located near Morton-in-Marsh, a small typically English village with a town square. From there, I hire Jill, a taxi driver who drives a Mercedes. After we finally arrive at this breathtakingly beautiful manor, Jill leaves, and I am left to discover this remote manor where I hope to do a plein air painting – despite the rain.

Hindu statues appear in grottos, as railings on a foot bridge, and as fountains and resting places. I am at a loss in this strange garden to explain what I am witnessing.

Sezincote Bridge: Sacred Cows

Like A Throne For Cleopatra: Under The Bridge

After wandering, I walk up to the manor, just as a tall handsome man opens the door. He is barefooted and comes out to introduce himself as Edward Peake. I introduce myself as the artist who requested by e-mail earlier in the year to paint in his garden. He smiles and agreeably tells me to feel at home. He explains that he has invited friends for lunch, but that I am free to roam and paint wherever I choose.

“I’ll come around to see your work later,” Peake says. I continue to walk around the garden and up a stairway into an orangerie (a glassed-in terrace for storing fruit trees in the winter). That is when I discover the Garden of Paradise, a fountain radiating out with four walkways.

Eureka! This is truly my painting, I exclaim. This is my perfect view. It is next to the fountain, looking along a pool lined with small, slim evergreens. In the composition I can see the steps leading up to two large bronze statues of elephants. And behind the elephants is the high slope belonging to the family grazing land for sheep and cattle. At the top of the slop is a single large, dark green tree. There at the fountain, I set up my easel and draw in my design. I am so intent on my work that I don’t see a hound dog amble by and sit nearby. He seems to have become my host.

Time passes and the rains are gone as I draw with charcoal the long pool with clipped evergreens lining the walkway. Side shadows from the trees fall across the walks and grass. At the end of the pool, I carefully draw steps up to the two elephants. I then indicate the high hill with more trees. Then I squeeze out my oil paints on my paper palette and begin to paint. As the day passes and some clouds appear, the light changes and I have to adjust the green grass and shadows as they turn darker in value.

Elephants At The Gate

I am intent on my painting when Peake reappears. “Would you like a cup of tea?” he asks. He brings the tea in a lovely white china cup decorated on the rim in gold and blue. I am a bit surprised by his hospitality, as he remains to chat. My impression is that he is about age 50 and elegant in his speech and movement. He seems like a man who has traveled a great deal and is used to living with nice things. He also puts me at ease as I continue to paint as we talk. Then I hear his interesting story.

“My mother Susanna owns the estate but she has set it up in a trust so I can live here for my lifetime,” he says. “My sister runs the large farm and I care for the house. We have cattle, but the fear of all English cattle owners is the hoof and mouth disease.”

He seems to read the hidden questions in my mind. “This garden, as you can see, is like a Garden of Paradise of India.” I think of an exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art of Shah Jahan, the last great Indian mogul. I was a museum docent at the time and loved the Indian miniature paintings of the Mogul’s court and gardens. Included in the museum show was a painting of a battle in which the warriors rode charging elephants.

What is so interesting about Sezincote is that it was designed in 1810 in the Mogul architectural style, with little English influence. Peake explains that it is nearly pure Mogul with a central dome (which later influenced the Brighton Pavilion), minarets, peacock-tail windows, and the orangerie.
Gardens of Paradise originated in Persia and were adapted in most Muslim cultures. They reflect the concept of the oasis, an enclosure of shade trees, fragrant flowers, flowing water, and pavilions – restful retreats from the desert heat.

Since I have painted in Pompeii, I tell him I am interested in seeing how gardens became retreats in Ancient Roman homes. I believe the Greeks and Romans were inspired by Middle Eastern gardens – perhaps coveted after learning of them from Alexander the Great’s conquest to the frontier of India. He never made it into India but many gardens and enclosed nature parks were raided by his army. Great gardens around great palaces denote power. And while the British were in India, they adapted the Mogul architecture as a symbol of power.

“This is such a lovely house and gardens,” I comment as I sip my tea.

“This garden, as you can see, is like a Garden of Paradise of India,” he continues. “The essence of a Persian garden are the four paths pointing north, south, east and west with the central fountain. Water is essential in the walled garden which stands alone like an oasis from the dry desert.”
So I am eager to hear how this house was built.

“The house was built when the English still loved Indian culture – before the Raj. The English were in India as part of the East India Trading Company and were plantation owners. Perhaps when Charles Cockerell, with the help of his brother, returned from the East India Company in the early 1800s, the hint of power came into their designs for Sezincote.

The house changed hands over the years to three other families. By 1944, about the time the British left India, the house had to be restored. While Sezincote reflects some of the elegance of a Mogul palace, it was too rich for some diehard British to digest its pure Indian form of architecture. It lacks the mixture with neo-classic architecture dating from ancient Rome – with pillars and pediments more popular among architects in England at the time.

“Many neighbors in this rolling Cotswold hill community threatened to have Sezincote torn down. About that time, in 1944, my grandfather bought the farm and had the house restored.” As his mother’s gift to the house, she purchased the two baby-sized elephants in bronze which stand at the top of the stairs leading down to the Garden of Paradise.

“I love the elephants at the top of the stairs,” I say.

“But I dispute her purchase and gift to the garden. They do not belong to a Garden of Paradise,” Peake says. “They are symbols which have nothing to do with paradise gardens.”

“They seem to be threatening the paradise but don’t dare enter,” I say. They are like an elephant walk – when elephant herds return to their watering hole each year. I remember a film “Elephant Walk” about angry elephants finally tearing through a plantation house built on path to their ancient watering hole.”

“Your house is the loveliest estate I’ve seen in England,” I say. I hope I have captured the essence of this garden’s style, space and spirit in paint. Apparently Sezincote has inspired poets, as well. Quoting from “Summoned by Bells” by John Betjeman, I realize how gentle, yet powerful Sezincote is:

“…the onion domes, Chajjahs and Chattris made of amber stone
‘Home of the Oaks,’ exotic Sezincote.”