Gezicht op een laan in Vauxhall Gardens te Londen Possibly 1751

Robert Sayer produced this print of Vauxhall Gardens in London in the mid-18th century. Vauxhall Gardens was a commercial pleasure garden, one of the first of its kind. It catered to a diverse clientele, from the aristocracy to the emerging middle class. The image presents a carefully constructed vision of leisure and social interaction. Note how the figures are arranged, their colorful clothing and leisurely poses suggesting a world of refinement and polite society. But this was a commercial venture, and behind the facade of elegance lay a complex web of social and economic relationships. The gardens became a space where social norms could be both reinforced and challenged, a place where different classes mixed and negotiated their identities. To understand this image fully, we can consult a wide range of historical sources: visitor accounts, business records, maps and other visual representations. It’s the task of the social art historian to bring all of these sources to bear in the interpretation of art.