Garden Museum

Room 3 – Garden sculpture in the 18th century

 

Sculptures have been a permanent feature of gardens, at the latest since the Renaissance. They decorated paths and squares, parterres and avenues and were an essential element of garden design.

The figures not only had decorative value, but almost always conveyed a message. Together they formed a so-called programme, which might for example represent the virtues of a ruler and the riches of his country and consisted of personifications and allegories and, in particular, mythological divinities. In this way the entire cosmos could be represented in the garden. This included the four continents (Europe, Asia, America and Africa were the four known ones at the time), the four elements (air, fire, earth, water), the four seasons and the four parts of the day.