H ouse and Garden 
“Today, after 
two hundred 
years or more, 
veracious Time 
rests its hand 
upon these 
beautiful foun¬ 
tains. It has 
shown that lead 
has no need to 
be gilded to be 
an admirable 
decorative ma¬ 
terial. The 
delicate gray 
statues of the 
pliant metal, 
overwhichfaint 
shadows play, 
cover them¬ 
selves gradu¬ 
ally with awhite 
velvety platina 
which assumes 
under the shadow of the woods an exquisite 
quality and unique artistic value. Beside 
them Keller’s bronzes seem like a dark blot 
in an ensemble of tremulous and flowered 
parterres of water.” 
Time is always an aid to the ultimate 
beautiful appearance of such works rather 
than a cause for deterioration and ruin in 
every case where either the pure lead has 
been properly supported,—as it must always 
“THE BASIN OF SATURN, VERSAILLES 
Cast by Girardon , after Designs by Lebrun 
be when used for statuary or other objects in 
the round,—or when it has been suitably 
alloyed. The purer the lead the less does it 
lend itself to the requirements of statuary. 
The great weight, together with the plia¬ 
bility of pure lead, causes it to yield 
or fall upon itself when cast in any large 
size. In such shapes, for example, as the 
urns illustrated on page 37, if they were not 
reinforced the bells of the urns would sink, 
leaving the stronger 
stems protruding up¬ 
ward and through them. 
Iron stays must be cast 
in the body of the ves¬ 
sel, or, in the case of 
statues, imbedded in 
out re aching parts. 
This is a simple mat¬ 
ter, and no more 
troublesome than 
strengthening plaster 
casts or reinforcing 
concrete. 
The present condi¬ 
tion of some of the 
groups of Versailles 
illustrates what is sure 
to happen if these pre- 
CHILDREN OF LEAD AT THE GRAND TRIANON 
LEADEN GROUP IN 
39 
