Saint James's Park, London

The dense growth of green trees and bushes in Garber's paintings does not suggest that this scene is only a few steps away from the seat of British government in central London, with Buckingham Palace and the buildings of Westminster surrounding Saint James' poplar-lined lake. The oldest of London's royal parks, Saint James' Park was remodeled in the early nineteenth century by John Nash, landscape architect to the Prince Regent, later George IV. Nash introduced a picturesque design aesthetic to the British capital, creating a series of parks that threaded through the center of the busy city. His changes gently transformed the park's formality into a bucolic sanctuary with meandering pathways and sinuous beds of brightly-colored flowers. Garber, who studied and taught at PAFA, painted London during a three-year trip to Europe as a young man.