the mood of this moment is captured in a painting done not long after louis' death-- antoine watteau'separture from the isle of cythera. a group of courtiers prepares to leave the island of love. the painting signals the new attitude-- more informal, poetic, and often amorous. in this paradise of cythera, there are no restraints, and nature is free and unconstrained. it was a time in which the argument over nature, exemplified in the idea of the garden, was a serious debate. it was in england that this different attitude to nature arose. the informal, spontaneous, picturesque english garden was seen as an expression of english liberties. the geometric french garden was seen as a reflection of their authoritarian government. in the microcosm of the garden could be read beliefs about the world at large. at stourhead, you can see, better than anywhere in europe, the way that the early 18th century attempted to create an art of landscape by shaping nature and putting into the landscape buildings created in past styles-- medieval, but especially classical. they believed that a landscape or