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Garden statues can add a certain look to any outdoor space and ornament any garden. These types of lawn ornaments are perfect for flower gardens, any porch area, and both front and back yards. It is important, however, not to overcrowd your place with these historical lawn ornaments, which is why placement of your statues is vital. Let's take a brief look at the history of garden statues and why they have withstood the test of time as lawn ornaments seen in yards and gardens across the entire world.
The temples and temple gardens of Ancient Egypt were beautifully ornamented with statues of the gods. In Greece, garden statues were placed in sacred groves. The Romans copied many of these for use as garden ornaments. As an example, the Venus de'Medici is believed to be a first century BC marble copy of a fourth century BC bronze. Through the Renaissance and into the twentieth century, this approach dominated western gardens.
Mythological figures have definitely played a huge role in the history of garden ornament statues. Some gardens are places of eternal metamorphoses, where replicas of gods endure the changing seasons. The modern use of a garden sculpture can be traced back to the Italian Renaissance about 500 years ago. It was then that the great artistic and philosophical works of Greek and Roman antiquity were being discovered anew. There were many classical sculptures that were also greatly admired as many were even excavated and transformed into garden statues. The Laocoon, for example, was a famous group of sculptures unearthed in 1506 that was displayed in the Belvedere Garden of the Vatican.
Garden ornament statues were catching on as the effects of the Renaissance moved north, where the French and English both acquired the craze for them. The Kings of both countries ornamented their properties with large collections of old and new garden sculptures. The first major collection of garden statues antiquities was established in 1614 at Arundel House in London by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel. These beautiful lawn ornaments can now be found at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford.
During the British Civil War, garden sculptures fell into disrepute. Lead statues were melted down for musket shot because they were considered as pagan images by supporters of Oliver Cromwell. However, after King Charles II took over in England in 1660, garden statue replicas of classical images had flourished again. Gods and mythological creatures were found in every garden and terrace as lawn ornaments. Among the most popular of statue ornaments you would find was Roman gladiators and great creatures removed from their element. These lawn ornaments stood as a statement for rulers of the country.
As the historical use of garden statues lives on, today these lawn ornaments are more than just a status symbol. In most cases they are not a status symbol, but simply a way of ornamenting a garden or backyard to give it the look and feel the homeowner is trying to achieve. Garden ornament statues can be a lot of things and today there are many different ways of using them as lawn ornaments.
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