Brown, Capability (1715-1783), was a celebrated English landscape gardener and landscape architect. During his career, Brown planned or remodeled about 200 estates, including Blenheim, in Oxfordshire; Kew, in London; and Nuneham Courtenay, near Oxford. Brown’s landscapes are characterized by groups of trees planted in rolling grassland and surrounded by woods.
Capability Brown was born in August 1715 in Kirkharle, Northumberland. His real name was Lancelot Brown. His nickname came from his way of saying that he could see “capabilities” in the landscapes he was to improve. He died on Feb. 6, 1783.
