STATUES. 



649 



seen what has been done on the Continent 

 in the way of casting in iron, and we look 

 to the Coalbrooke Dale and other spirited 

 companies to realise our utmost wishes. 

 The statuary of Austin and Seeley, in 

 artificial stone — that of the Grangemouth 

 Coal Company and the Garnkirk Com- 

 pany, in fire-clay material— and lastly, 

 the patent artificial stone of Ransome and 

 Parsons, all stand our climate without 

 the slightest appearance of decay. The 

 expense of works in any of these, even of 

 the most chaste and classic designs, may be 

 stated at from fifteen to twenty guineas 

 — sums, considering the excellence of the 

 workmanship, exceedingly moderate. 



In regard to the disposal of statues in 

 architectural flower-gardens, it may be 

 observed that much taste and feeling is 

 required. The following, as a short 

 general rule, has been laid dowo in " The 

 Encyclopedia of Villa Architecture : " — 

 " We w T ould suggest that no statue ought 

 ever to be placed where it may not be 

 viewed in connection with some archi- 

 tectural production, such as placed on 

 the piers of a balustrade, on the side- 

 walls of a stair, or simply on pedestals 

 among flowers, but so as to have always 

 a spreading architectural base, and to be 

 seen backed by a wall, or some part of a 

 building. Statues may also be placed 

 where they are seen in connection with 

 each other — though this will not be en- 

 tirely satisfactory without some mural 

 appendages. Statues placed in woods, in 

 green arbours, verdant alcoves, in the 

 midst of naked grass lawns, or, in short, 

 in any place where they are surrounded 

 only by vegetation, are, from their want 

 of harmony with the scene, decidedly 

 objectionable." 



Both the selection and disposal of 

 statues require due consideration, so that 

 the fault of incongruity may be avoided. 

 Thus it would be absurd to place the 

 statue of Pan in a highly-finished flower- 

 garden, while Ceres and Flora are made 

 silent inhabitants of the surrounding 

 woods and groves. Jupiter and Mars 

 should occupy the centres of the largest 

 pieces of lawn. Neptune should possess 

 the centre of the largest body of water ; 

 while Venus should be associated along 

 with the Graces, Cupid, &c. in the most 

 refined parts ; Apollo, with the Muses and 

 Minerva, amongst the representations of 



VOL. I. 



the liberal sciences. In statuary, the scale 

 of size should be proportioned to that of 

 the garden, and all should be elevated on 

 highly architectural pedestals. Nor should 

 statuary be confined entirely to the tutelar 

 gods of men's imagination. The statues 

 of living as well as of dead heroes, poets, 

 philosophers, and philanthropists, are 

 equally, if not more, fitting for the em- 

 bellishment of a modern flower-garden. 

 Statues of the class of Eve at the fountain, 

 the Dancing Girl, &c, are also admissible. 

 As sculptural decorations, statuary is 

 undoubtedly the highest in an artistic 

 point of view. Great care is therefore 

 required in their disposal, to avoid the 

 errors fallen into even by the old masters 

 of the art ; such, for instance, as those 

 seen by Evelyn in the palace gardens of 

 Hieronymo del Negro, at Genoa, where 

 he says he saw a grove of stately trees, 

 amongst which were sheep, shepherds, 

 and wild beasts, cut very artfully in 

 grey stone. The statues of Adam and 

 Eve, Flora and Pomona, &c, which dis- 

 graced many of our older gardens — and 

 very sorry representatives of the originals, 

 we have no doubt, they were — have, in 

 many cases, been substituted by specimens 

 in artificial stone, fire-clay, and other 

 materials of a much higher class, as works 

 of art ; and the more recent improvements 

 in castings in iron, zinc, &c, have given 

 us both more durable and artistic sub- 

 stitutes for the marble statues of antiquity. 

 Statuary in these materials is no new in- 

 vention. James, in his translation of Le 

 Blond's work on gardening, written about 

 the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 says, that the richest statues were those 

 of cast brass, lead gilt, and marble : the 

 ordinary sort are of iron, stone, or stucco. 



"The Chinese," says Sir William Cham- 

 bers, in Dissertations on Oriental Garden- 

 ing, "are fond of introducing statues, busts, 

 bas-reliefs, and every production of the 

 chisel, as well in other parts of their gar- 

 dens as around their dwellings, observ- 

 ing that they are not only ornamental, 

 but that, by commemorating past events 

 and celebrated personages, they awaken 

 the mind to pleasing contemplation, hur- 

 rying our reflections up into the remotest 

 ages of antiquity ; and they never fail to 

 scatter inscriptions, verses, and moral 

 sentences about their grounds, which are 

 placed on large ruinated stones, and 



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