Garden sculpture: history, stages of development and famous examples

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

How often, walking through various parks, we see incredibly beautiful works of art! Landscape gardening sculpture has been widespread since time immemorial. Now it can be observed in many places, both very famous and practically unknown to the general public. Of course, such art has always carried certain goals, which have undergone strong changes at different times. Also due to its long history, this type of sculpture has many stages of development. All these issues will be similarly discussed in the article.

Garden sculpture: general information

First of all, you need to define this direction of art, as well as talk about some of its characteristic features. So, such a sculpture is one of the varieties of plasticity. It is created to decorate various garden and park areas. These objects can be of any size. I wonder what other purposes such objects of art are created for? In addition to the main, decorativecomponent, landscape gardening sculpture can perform propaganda or educational functions. Some objects are created to commemorate famous people or important events.

This type of art has long been recognized as traditional. Most of all, it manifests itself in Western European culture, where you can find many beautiful examples. We will talk about them a little later. Now let's turn to the history of this trend.

The birth of garden sculpture

First, it's worth talking about when and where this art form first began to appear. So, according to many experts, decorative (landscape) sculpture originated in ancient Greece. Then the very first known gardens appeared (in Athens and elsewhere). It was at this time that a tradition appeared to decorate them with various sculptural objects. One of the famous places of that time is the gardens of the Academy, where philosophers used to gather.

When the era of Hellenism came to replace this period, landscape gardening sculpture received somewhat different tasks. From that moment on, she wore more decorative and entertaining functions. Famous examples of that time are "Old Fisherman", "Satire's Rest" and many others.

In ancient Rome, this sculpture was further developed. At that time active conquests were constantly conducted. Therefore, many Roman gardens were decorated with statues taken from other countries made of various materials - bronze, marble, plaster and some others. Also in ancient Rome there was such a direction as copying objects of art of AncientGreece.

Further stages of development

So, we learned about how the landscape gardening sculpture was born. Now it is worth continuing our digression into history. It is interesting that during the Renaissance in some countries, for example in Italy, sculpture developed much more actively than other areas of art. The figures were installed in many places: in huge squares and in small gardens. They were also used to decorate objects such as fountains.

It was from Italy that this direction of art was borrowed by other countries. Gradually, such traditions of decorating gardens and parks were adopted by France, England and the Czech Republic.

Gardens

Many garden and park ensembles are recognized as real gems, are valuable monuments of cultural heritage and are under special protection and protection.

Baroque gardens deserve special attention. Their distinguishing feature is precisely the presence of a large number of park statues. Vases were also used to decorate green areas. Remarkable examples of that time are the Summer Garden, Versailles and many others.

After a while, landscape gardens of classicism appeared. Much fewer sculptural objects were used to decorate such parks. At this time, the figures of the gods of Ancient Greece and Rome began to be created again, many characters were also borrowed from these cultures. A wonderful example of classicism gardens is the Alabino estate, located in the Moscow region.

In the 19th century, the arrangement of garden and park ensembles changed markedly. At the beginningcentury, classicism mainly reigned, but it was gradually replaced by academicism, and a little later, other directions. For example, at that time a monument appeared in the Summer Garden, absolutely unlike the others. It was dedicated to Krylov, the author of famous fables. It is interesting that the sculpture was completely different from the examples of baroque and classicism created before.

Famous examples of garden sculptures

There are many examples of this art direction. One of them, which has already been mentioned above, is the Summer Garden. It is located in St. Petersburg. Famous statues are installed here, such as "Mercy", "Justice", "Woman in a Diadem" and many others.

Another well-known ensemble is the Tuileries in Paris, where many famous cultural monuments are also located.

Interestingly, plaster sculptures were popular at one time. One of them adorned Gorky Park in Moscow during the Soviet period. It was called "The Girl with the Oar".

Its original version was created in 1934. It was damaged during the war, after which it was restored. "Girl with a paddle" is a fairly well-known object. Now she is also in Gorky Park.