Personality Plus

by Connie Handscomb

Title

Personality Plus

Artist

Connie Handscomb

Medium

Photograph - Photography - Fine Art

Description

Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle....
~ Lewis Carroll [fr. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland]

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Ref 1084 UNESCO World Heritage Site
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest Greater London

Kew Palace is the smallest of the British royal palaces built not by an Englishman of Dutch descent in the early 1600's as a private house. George III later purchased it. The Royal Family used the palace as their summer residence. It is the oldest surviving building in the Kew botanical gardens. Much of the original palace was demolished. This is a detailed portion that remains of a topiary outside two of its windows.

The brickwork is Flemish bond, a decorative style of late medieval buildings in parts of northern and central Europe, particularly in Poland. This palace was the first prominent use of Flemish Bond in England, following which Flemish bond became the brick bond of choice for architecturally refined . The Baroque-style curvilinear gables, popular with it, are a Dutch influence.

Shaping and training trees and shrubs into shapes is called topiary, with the purpose of providing a garden accent - a living art form. The ancient Romans and Greeks, the Egyptians, and more were known to practice this artistic pruning. It was very fashionable during the 17th and 18th centuries, then eventually gave way to the more popular, natural gardens.

The English were, and are, particularly adept and reknowned for their topiary. This one was found outside Kew Palace. Kew Palace is located at London's botanical Kew Gardens. It is the smallest of the royal palaces, and was used as their summer residence. It is the hereditary property of Queen Elizabeth II, and is managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew and Historic Royal Palaces.

Administration of the palace is handled by Historic Royal Palaces, rather than the Kew Gardens. It is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act.

The palace, a hallmark of traditional architecture, is open to the public.

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Topiary really is a living art form: note the distinctive character here, with the windows being the eyes, the topiary the nose, and the lavender surround being the smile :)

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♥ Heartfelt Gratitude to FAA groups for featuring this image :

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Uploaded

March 19th, 2017

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