Kent, William

William Kent, trained as a coach painter, became an artist and designer working in many areas, including garden design. His taste was formed during a series of Grand Tours with his patrons. In the 1720s he worked with Lord Burlington on Chiswick House. William Kent then became a landscape designer and, in Walpole's famous words proved himself 'born with a genius to strike out a great system from the twilight of imperfect essays. He leaped the fence, and saw that all nature was a garden'. William Kent's remark that 'all gardening is landscape painting' continues to influence garden designers. Rousham is the best surviving example of his work and visitors to Greenwich Park should look out for the royal barge he designed - it is one of the most popular exhibits in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.