Garden Museum

Room 4 – Garden sculpture in the 19th century

 

After the radical social changes that had taken place in the 19th century, the Baroque figure programmes based on the ideal of the absolutist ruler became meaningless. Gardens were increasingly decorated according to the personal preferences and individual tastes of their owners, who were frequently influenced by short-lived fashions. By the end of the 18th century, garden owners were already selecting and ordering what they wanted from the illustrated catalogues issued by various companies.

From the 1830s, the new industrial methods involving cast zinc made it possible to mass-produce sculptures, although with an accompanying loss of quality. Thus began a development which is still in evidence in the modern garden centres of our day.