Brown, Capability

(born 1715, Kirkharle, Northumberland, Eng.—died Feb. 6, 1783, London) British master of naturalistic garden design. He worked for years at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, one of the most talked-of gardens of the day, under William Kent (1685–1748). By 1753 he was the leading “improver of grounds” in England. At Blenheim Palace he created masterly lakes and almost totally erased the earlier formal scheme. His landscapes consisted of expanses of grass, irregularly shaped bodies of water, and trees placed singly and in clumps. His style is often thought of as the antithesis of that of André Le Nôtre, designer of the formal Versailles gardens. Brown's nickname arose from his habit of saying that a place had “capabilities.”