Statues
Garden Statuary
Garden Statuary
The garden statues are divided in five categories:
1. Graeco-Roman deities.
2. Mythological creatures.
3. Mammals.
4. Other/Classical.
5. Sundry.
I like to have statues in the garden for several reasons: they add focal points to help guide the eye and the perspective of the landscape design; increase the range height levels; provide historical and cultural interest; aid a certain tranquillity and timelessness.
Graeco-Roman Deities
DEITIES
At present there are five Classical style statues of this category. They are in an ancient Graeo-Roman style of the Classical period of European antiquity. The statues are:
Mars/Ares.
Athene/Minerva.
Helios/Apollo.
Artemis/Diana.
Eros & Psyche.
They are, as far as I am aware, copies of ancient statues or those of the nineteenth century Neo-Classical revival (as in the style of the Venetian sculptor Antonio Canova 1757-1822). I am still trying to find information about the originals.
The structures are cast, I think, in one or two pieces using a cement/powdered stone/ & marble mix. And then (according to the Italian studios manufacturing them) covered in a compound using white Carrara marble.
They are are all just over 5 foot high + pedestals of about 7 inches. They weigh (as I found out through bitter experience) approximately 150kilos each for Diana and for Apollo, to 205+ kilos for Mars and for Athene and finally to 225 kilos for Eros and Psyche.
Mammals & other Groups
Cats
Statues of much larger-than-life are grouped in pairs like sentries at the arch to the vegetable parterre garden; from the herbarium & wetland gardens to the beach.
Since cats were venerated in ancient Egypt, they were commonly believed to have been domesticated there, but there may have been instances of their domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9,500 years ago (7,500 BC).
A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats, having diverged around 8,000 BC in West Asia. A 2016 study found that leopard cats were undergoing domestication independently in China around 5,500 BC, though this line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domesticated populations of today.The domestic cat was first classified as Felis catus by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1758.
In ancient Egypt, cats were sacred animals, with the goddess Bastet often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness. The Romans are often credited with introducing the domestic cat from Egypt to Europe. However, cats possibly were already kept in Europe prior to the Roman Empire, as they may have been present in Britain in the late Iron Age. Domestic cats were spread throughout much of the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery, as they were carried on sailing ships to control shipboard rodents and as good-luck charms.
Several ancient religions believed cats are exalted souls, companions or guides for humans, that are all-knowing but mute so they cannot influence decisions made by humans. In Japan, the maneki neko cat is a symbol of good fortune.
Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility in Norse mythology, is depicted as riding a chariot drawn by cats.
There is a collection of Musical Cats statues in the flower bed "Freya's Friends"
Lions etc:
There are two statues of lions at the garden entrance patio. Two more statues of lions in the Dianthus garden. And also two at the paved beach side patio.
There are also two Black Panthers.
Other
Two collections oi Dwarves: five in the first hedge bed; and 4 large one in the Wayland's Patch
There are three rabbit statues in the Urns garden.
Two sets of two Hares on the conifer garden
Two elves in the Conifer garden.
OTHER CLASSICAL
The Four Seasons: one in each corner of the vegetable parterre garden.
Water jug lady near the head of the waterfall.
Flower lady in the Dwarf bed.
Busts on plinths of Apollo and Diana.
Lady with vase in the grasses garden.
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