Umělecký zahradník Joseph Fritsch ve vilách toskánských velkovévodů Ferdinanda III. a Leopolda II
Artistic gardener Joseph Fritsch in villas of Ferdinand III and Leopold II, Grand Dukes of Tuscany. English garden making from Bohemia to Tuscany

Summary/Abstract: This paper pays attention to one of the key garden art personalities in Bohemia at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries Joseph Fritsch (1774–1867). This artistic gardener of the English gardens became a person of interest in the last decades, especially due to his adaptations of the Mannerist masterpiece in Pratolin to English park. The origin of Joseph Fritsch is uncertain as well as his career before he came to Tuscany where he worked, most of the time, for Grand Dukes of Tuscany Ferdinand III and Leopold II. The paper is an output of archives research in Bohemia, Austria, Germany and Italy where Fritsch was supposed to start his career. The research results are presented as particular episodes in his professional life in Bohemia, and, in terms of Tuscany, the paper is focused, first of all, only on Pratolino. Fritsch was born in North Bohemian Dubice in 1774, first remarks on his career are linked to his service in Vlašim, the most beautiful English park of the time in Bohemia. Thereafter, as an already experienced artistic gardener, he entered the service of Grand Dukes of Tuscany (1810), for them he remakes a part of garden in Ploskovice (1812–1814?) and, furthermore, he is entrusted with a château garden project in Buštěhrad (1814). Then, called up by Grand Duke Ferdinand III, he continues to Tuscany (1815–1816) where he carries out his project of the English garden for Pratolino. Based on the found documents, the paper analyses and puts in context both archival documents pertaining to actual works in particular grand-ducal gardens and his distinctive style, completely original for the cultural context of Tuscany. By crediting Fritsch with authoring the project for Ploskovice and Buštěhrad, and, in general, by putting Fritsch, a fundamental personality of garden art of the time, to Bohemian milieu, this paper can contribute to better understanding of history and context of the Bohemian garden architecture.

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