Greco-Roman architecture and bonsai

redsblue

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Does anyone have design or mags that have an example of these two workings together well? I'm not sure of what good design pots and whatnot would look like with it. The building is really old. Is there types of trees or designs I should be using to make things not lookout place and clash?
 

AlainK

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Like roots of a fig tree strangling the Coliseum ? Unlikely :D

But you can find very nice examples of European landscapes/penjing, so why not the Parthenon ?
 

kouyou

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interesting topic

the top priority, for me, would be to avoid this looking kitsch or cliché. For this reason, i personally would be more inclined to use ruins, rather than polished intact buildings. In both Greece and Italy, at the less-popular archaeological sites you will often find ruins overgrown with plants - this is common! This, unfortunately, is less likely to make it into the photos that show-up in google searches. although not 'classical' architecture (which is probably what you have in mind) the site of Troy has a high number of very old trees growing among the ruins sadly for the most part abandoned by the turks

if you insist on using an intact building, from memory i could recommend the temple to poseidon at sounio. it is on a cliff, and the east side of the cape has a number of very old trees groomed by harsh weather and conditions. although you cannot normally access this area (but there are always ways...), from there your view of the trees will have the temple in the background. sicily's valle dei templi is also surrounded by old twisted trees. i am purposely recommending popular sites so that you will find many photos online, on the assumption that you aren't living in either of these countries... if you are planning a trip, DM me.

a second source of inspiration might be paintings. desolation, from thomas cole's course of empire series comes to mind, as well as his etna and l'allegro. check out his campagna, tower, and castle paintings. although not greco-roman, they are inspiring. and there are a huge number of landscape paintings that incorporate ruins among lush trees or gardens. have you seen the bathing pool by hubert robert? ironically, i would say that you are not likely to find inspiration among neo-classical paintings (plants are rarely if ever the focus)

you can also go abstract (which would be my preferred option), using a typically italian or greek plant, planted (maybe root-over-rock) on rough (unshaped, unpolished) white marble. grape vine and olives come to mind--have you seen the ancient olives in puglia?--but i'm sure there are others

i know a few members here have visited italy - maybe they snapped some suitable photos that you could use! all of my photos are of the archaeology 🤣
 
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