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History of Early American Landscape Design

Statue

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History

British treatises available in North America frequently mentioned the statue as an ornament and set forth varied typologies. Batty Langley (1728), for example, categorized statues according to their arrangement and use in gardens, whereas Isaac Ware (1756) used size to make distinctions. Many statues in antebellum America were made of ephemeral materials, most notably wood, and, in some cases, painted plaster. In America, high-quality stone was not readily available for carving, and large metal casting was not popular until mid- century; as a result, before 1852 many statues were imported.1 Treatise author A.-J. Dézallier d’Argenville commented in 1712 that “statues are not for every man, but princes and great ministers,” suggesting that decorum and propriety regarding class and status governed the use of statues and may have discouraged their use in the colonial period.2 In addition, “statue” was not the only term used to refer to, in Noah Webster’s 1828 words, “a solid substance formed by carving into the likeness of a whole living being.” Other terms, such as “figure,” “sculpture,” “bust,” and “image,” were used with some frequency. Thomas Jefferson (1771), for example, described “a sleeping figure reclined on a plain marble slab, surrounded with turf” for his garden.3

Accounts of statues in the eighteenth century, such as those by Ezra Stiles (1754) and Daniel Fisher (1755) written with respect to the garden of Bush Hill, near Philadelphia, suggest that they ranged widely in quality. Stiles, on the one hand, claimed that the statues were exceptional—“in fine Italian marble curiously wrot”; while Fisher, on the other, stated that the statues were merely ordinary. Visitors’ garden descriptions indicate that statuary was often perceived to be worthy of mention, particularly when it was made of fine materials or when it illustrated significant themes. Philip Vickers Fithian, when extolling in 1774 the virtues of Mount Airy in Virginia, noted “four large beautiful Marble Statues.” Charles Drayton, recounting in 1806 the “beauties of landscape” at the Woodlands, near Philadelphia, noted a “fine statue” that was included in portraits of the house. Hannah Callender, writing in 1762, called attention to the statues of mythological subjects at Judge William Peters’s Belmont Mansion, near Philadelphia. Classical themes for garden statuary frequently were recommended throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by treatise writers such as John James, Batty Langley, William Marshall, and

G. Gregory. Charles Willson Peale cut figures out of wooden board to resemble “statues in sculpture,” for his garden at Belfield (c. 1825). Elias Hasket Derby commissioned a group of four wooden “figures” from woodcarvers John Skillin and Simeon Skillin, Jr. On September 25, 1793, the Skillin brothers presented Derby with a bill for “free standing figures of larger dimensions, ranging between 4 and 5 feet in height,” at a cost of approximately £7.10 each and .15 for priming. 4 These statues were pastoral in theme and included a shepherdess, a gardener, and the figure of Plenty [Fig. 1]. The Skillins’s garden statuary resembled, both in handling and form, little figures on furniture, such as secretaries and chests, which were also carved by the brothers.5

One of the most elaborate and widely known displays of statues in eighteenth century private gardens was that of Lord Timothy Dexter, who made a large fortune in the shoe business and in stock speculation. At his large house in Newburyport, Mass., Dexter improved his garden by erecting a row of columns along the outer border of his front lawn. On the top of these columns he placed “colossal images carved in wood,” including figures of “Indian chiefs, military generals, philosophers, politicians and statesmen, now and then a goddess of Fame, or Liberty . . . [and] four lions” [Fig. 2]. Dexter’s master carver Joseph Wilson (1779–1857) made approximately forty slightly less-than-life-size figures, which were occasionally repainted if a change in identity was desired.6

As a sketch (c. 1850) by Lewis Miller illustrates, statues were frequently incorporated into fountains [Fig. 3]. For the public fountain erected at Centre Square in Philadelphia [Fig. 4], sculptor William Rush (1756–1833) provided a wooden female figure loosely based on classical statues. This work was reproduced many times in plaster casts and in prints. In an advertisement in the Philadelphia Gazette, and Daily Advertiser on July 20, 1820, Rush defended his choice of wood on the basis of economy and practicality.7 The fountain figure, entitled Allegory of the Schuylkill River (or Water Nymph and Bittern), was moved to Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park in about 1829. Frances Milton Trollope described the striking effect of white painted wood against the dark rock Rush had amassed for the base. In both sites, the statue functioned as a visual focus for the designed landscape.

Statues were located throughout the garden or landscape. At the Moreau House in Morrisville, Pa., a classically inspired statue dominated the garden [Fig. 5]. At Belvedere in Baltimore, statues were interspersed with urns on the lawn [Fig. 6]. At Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass., they were placed on top of monuments or memorials [Fig. 7]. At the Elias Hasket Derby House in Salem, Mass., the extant sculpture Plenty was situated in front of a summerhouse, while the Gardener and the Shepherdesswere positioned on the roof of a summerhouse designed by Samuel McIntire [see Summerhouse, Fig. 8]. At Fairmount Park, another William Rush statue, Mercury, was placed on top of a garden structure overlooking the river [Fig. 8]. Lemon Hill in Philadelphia was known for its collection of garden statues, including, as Benjamin L. C. Wailes noted on December 29, 1829, “a dog of natural size carved out of marble [who] sits just within the entrance [of the grotto], the guardian of the place.”8

Statues were used by garden designers to bring a focal point to the layout and to divert the eye. At Belmont Mansion, statues were placed in the center of the labyrinth, according to Hannah Callender. Statues often were placed on the lawn in front of the main façade of the house, as they were at the Woodlands, creating visual and physical ties between the ornamental style of the house and the garden scenery, as advised by British writer Thomas Whately (1770). Likewise, at Iranistan, in Bridgeport, Conn., statues on pedestals flanked the flower beds located near the grand entrance staircase [Fig. 9]. In other cases, statues were placed along the terrace, where they helped to articulate the divide between house and ornamented landscape. Charles Lyell in 1846 related this use of statues at country houses in Natchez, Miss. At Point Breeze, ancient statues overlooked the terrace and distant landscape [Fig. 10].

In public gardens, statues played a significant role in thematic spectacles, such as fireworks and transparent paintings, which were intended to lure customers. Statues of political and military heroes, together with those of figures from Greek mythology, as well as copies of renowned statues, such as the Medici Apollo, also decorated commercial gardens.

Statues were especially important in sites of public commemoration, such as public squares. The fate of the gilded lead statue of George III in the Bowling Green in New York illustrates the political charge such monuments could carry. In 1776, after a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, the statue purportedly was pulled down by the assembled crowd and melted for bullets.9 In 1800, Latrobe recorded that the statue of Lord Botetourt was damaged by students at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, as a statement of protest against British aristocracy; it was subsequently moved to a private garden. Statues could instruct as well as incite. When planning the public space in the center of Washington, D.C., Pierre-Charles L’Enfant included statues representing those who helped the United States achieve liberty and independence and individuals worthy of imitation and adulation. In the nineteenth century, statues became crucial elements in the new public parks. A. J. Downing, when describing in 1851 the benefits of a park in New York, pointedly stated that such a place would provide an appropriate setting for statues and other works of art that commemorated the history of the nation.

A choice of style or subject of the statue might have been justified in one garden because it harmonized with the architectural style of the home. On the other hand, it might have been praised for the pleasing contrast it offered from plants in the surrounding landscape. In American gardens, it is important to note that in spite of changing taste and fashion, statues as garden elements were always valued, and a place was found for them whether on the terrace or hidden in a grove.

-- Anne L. Helmreich.

Texts

Usage

Stiles, Ezra, 1754, describing Bush Hill, estate of Lt. Gov. James Hamilton, near Philadelphia, Pa. (1892: 375)

“Took a walk in his very elegant garden, in which are 7 statues in fine Italian marble curiously wrot.”

Fisher, Daniel, 25 May 1755, describing Bush Hill, estate of Lt. Gov. James Hamilton, near Philadelphia, Pa. (Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 17: 267)

“it [did not] contain anything that was curious, unless what is by some gazed at and spoke of, a few very ordinary statues. A shady walk of high trees leading from the further end of the Garden, looked well enough; but the Grass above knee high, thin and spoiling for the want of the Sythe.”

Callender, Hannah, 1762, describing Belmont Mansion, estate of Judge William Peters, near Philadelphia, Pa. (quoted in Vaux 1888: 455)

“A broad walk of English Cherry trees leads down to the river. The doors of the house opening opposite admit a prospect of the length of the garden over a broad gravel walk to a large handsome summer house on a green. From the windows a vista is terminated by an obelisk. On the right you enter a labyrinth of hedge of low cedar and spruce. In the middle stands a statue of Apollo. In the garden are statues of Diana, Fame and Mercury with urns. We left the garden for a wood cut into vistas. In the midst is a Chinese temple for a summer house. One avenue gives a fine prospect of the City. . . . Another avenue looks to the obelisk.”

Jefferson, Thomas, 1771, describing Monticello, plantation of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Va. (1944: 26)

“the ground just about the spring smoothed and turfed; close to the spring a sleeping figure reclined on a plain marble slab, surrounded with turf; on the slab this inscription:

Hujus nympha loci, sacri custodia fontis Dormio, dum blandae sentio murmur aquae Parce meum, quisquis tangis cava Marmora, summum Rumpere; si bibas, sive lavere, tace”

Robert, Patrick M., August 1771, describing New York, N.Y. (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; hereafter CWF)

“Near the fort is an equestrian statue of King George the III. Upon an elegant pedestial in the middle of a fine green rail’s in with iron. At the crossing of two public streets, stands at full length a marble statue of Lord Chatham erected by the citizens in gratitude for his strenuous opposition to the stamp act in 1766.”

Fithian, Philip Vickers, 7 April 1774, describing Mount Airy, property of John Tayloe II, Richmond County, Va. (1943: 126)

“He has also a large well formed, beautiful Garden, as fine in every Respect as any I have seen in Virginia. In it stand four large beautiful Marble Statues.”

Washington, George, 19 July 1776, describing the toppling of the statue of George III in New York, N.Y. (1931–44: 5:246)

“Tho the General doubts not the persons who pulled down and mutilated the statue, in the Broadway, last night, were actuated by Zeal in the public cause; yet it has so much the appearance of riot, and want of order, in the Army, that he disapproves of the manner, and directs that in future these things shall be avoided by the Soldiery, and left to be executed by proper authority.” [Fig. 11]

L’Enfant, Pierre-Charles, 4 January 1792,

describing Washington, D.C. (quoted in Caemmerer 1950: 165)

“The center of each Square will admit of Statues, Columns, Obelisks, or any other ornament such as the different States may choose to erect: to perpetuate not only the memory of such individuals whose counsels or Military achievements were conspicuous in giving liberty and independence to this Country; but also those whose usefulness hath rendered them worthy of general imitation, to invite the youth of succeeding generations to tread in the paths of those sages, or heroes whom their country has thought proper to celebrate.”

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 24 April 1800,

describing a statue in Williamsburg, Va. (CWF)

“A very striking proof of the folly of expecting that any statue will be always respected exists in Williamsburg, where Lord Botetourts statue which had remained untouched during the whole war, was mutilated, and decapitated, by the young collegians, in the first frenzy of the French revolutionary maxiums, because it was the statue of a Lord. The Statue now graces Mrs. Hunt’s Garden in a very mutilated state. The pedestal has these inscriptions which remained the libel of the country and age, beneath the decapitated statue in 1797 . . . I could furnish you with many other proofs of the perishability of statues, and the immortality of pyramids, from Rome Westminster Abbey, the cedevant place Louis XV, the cidevant Church St. Genevieve, Egypt, Greece and Italy, and (if Mr. Reed will permit) from South Carolina. General Washington’s statue at Richmond has already lost a spur. We know that even his virtues are hated, by fools and rogues, and unfortunately that sort of animals crawl much about in public buildings.”

Anonymous, 24 June 1805, describing Vauxhall Garden, New York, N.Y. (New York Daily Advertiser)

“[Joseph Delacroix has] procured from Europe a choice selection of Statues and Busts. mostly from the finest models of Antiquity, and worthy the attention of Amateurs. . . .

“The BUSTS and STATUES. ...

“Gen. Washington, Gen. Hamilton, Addison “Cicero, Demosthenes Antinous “Ajax, Apollo B. Cleopatra “Antinious, Plenty Niobe “Hannibal, Hercules Pompey “Apollo di Belvedere Time Pope “[different sizes] Ceres “Venus, Serenity “Hebe, Modesty

“Apollo di Medicis—THALIA, Comic Muse.”

Anonymous, 7 December 1805, describing a botanic garden in Charleston, S.C. (Charleston Courier)

“BOTANIC GARDEN. One Hundred Dollars Reward. On Thursday Evening last, after sun-set, some evil minded person, taking advantage of the Gardener’s absence, knocked the Gate, and on being admitted treated the servant insolently for not admitting him sooner; he went directly to the Statue of Mercury, which was standing in the middle of the Garden, and threw it down, by which means it is entirely destroyed. The man was well dressed.”

Drayton, Charles, 2 November 1806, describing the Woodlands, seat of William Hamilton, near Philadelphia, Pa. (Drayton Hall, Charles Drayton Diaries, 1784–1820, typescript)

“The Garden consists of a large verdant lawn surrounded by a belt or walk, & shrubbery for some distance. the outer side of the walk is adorned here & there, by scattered forest trees, thick & thin. It is bounded, partly as is described—partly by the Schylkill [sic] & a creek exhibiting a Mill & where it is scarcely noticed, by a common post and rail. The walk is said to be a mile long—perhaps it is something less. one is led in to the garden from the portico, to the east and lefthand. or from the park, by a small gate contiguous to the house. traversing this walk, one sees many beauties of landscape—also a fine statue, symbol of Winter, & age.”

Lambert, John, 1816, describing Vauxhall Garden, New York, N.Y. (2:61)

“The Vauxhall garden is situated in the Bowery Road about two miles from the City Hall. It is a neat plantation, with gravel walks adorned with shrubs, trees, busts, and statues. In the centre is a large equestrian statue of General Washington.”

Rush, William, 20 July 1820, describing his choice of wood for statues (quoted in Thompson 1982: 29–30)

“We pretend not to say that wooden statues are as elegant as marble. The contour may be as graceful, but there is a fineness in the lines of a marble figure which give it a great superiority. Wooden statues are, however, well adapted to the present state of this country, and seem perfectly appropriate in a Sylvan state. They cost only one- twelfth as much as marble statues: and will last quite as long as the buildings they are intended to ornament.”

Peale, Charles Willson, c. 1825, describing the Brideswell (Workhouse), New York, N.Y. (Miller, Hart, and Ward, eds., 2000: 5:167–68)

“In the garden they saw the remains of the statue of Mr. Pitt . . . the head was gone and other parts much mutilated, This was done by the British, pehaps because the americans had broken to pieces the statue of King George, which was an equistrian statue of Lead, which they cast into bullets.”

Peale, Charles Willson, c. 1825, describing Belfield, estate of Charles Willson Peale, Germantown, Pa. (Miller, Hart, and Ward, eds., 2000: 5:381–82)

“He wanted a place to keep the garden seeds & Tools, and in a part of the Garden where a seat in the shade was often wanted, he built a shed or small room, and to hide that Salt-like-box, and to try his art of Painting, he made the front like [a] Gate Way with a step to form a seat, and above, steps painted as representing a passage through an Arch beyond which was represented a western sky, and to ornament the upper part over the arch, he painted several figures on boards cut to the out


lines of said figures as representing statues in sculpture. And [so that] his design of those figures might be fully understood [by] visitors, he painted two pedestals ornamented with a ball to crown each. and the die of the Pedestals, on one the expla[na]tion of the figures vizt. America with an even ballance—as justifying her acts. The Fassie, emblematical of the several state[s], are bound together, incircled by a Rattle-snake, as inocent if not meddled with, but terrible if molested. This emblem of Congress is placed upright as that body ought to be, with wisdom its base, designed by the owl; the beehive and children; industry an increase the effects of good government, supported on one side, Truth and Temperance, on the other Industry, with her distaf, resting on the cornucopia— consequence a wise Policy will do away with wars. hence Mars is fallen. The figure of Mars was made on the end of shed roof to hide it. The making of this is rather of the Political cast, yet he had long given over being active in Politicks, but choose by it to shew his dislike of War.”

Trollope, Frances Milton, 1830, describing Fairmount Waterworks, Philadelphia, Pa. (1832: 2:44)

“At another point, a portion of the water in its upward way to the reservoir, is permitted to spring forth in a perpetual jet d’eau, that returns in a silver shower upon the head of a marble naïad of snowy whiteness. The statue [Rush’s Allegory of the Schuylkill River] is not the work of Phidias, but its dark, rocky back-ground, the flowery catalpas which shadow it, and the bright shower through which it shews itself, altogether makes the scene one of singular beauty.”

Lyell, Sir Charles, 1846, describing Natchez, Miss. (1849: 2:153)

“Many of the country-houses in the neighborhood are elegant, and some of the gardens belonging to them laid out in the English, others in the French style. In the latter are seen terraces, with statues and cut evergreens, straight walks with borders of flowers, terminated by views into the wild forest, the charms of both being heightened by contrast. Some of the hedges are made of that beautiful North American plant, the Gardenia, miscalled in England the Cape jessamine, others of the Cherokee rose, with its bright and shining leaves.”

Downing, A. J., 1849, describing Lemon Hill, estate of Henry Pratt, Philadelphia, Pa. (p. 43)

“Lemon Hill, half a mile above the Fairmount water-works of Philadelphia, was, 20 years ago, the most perfect specimen of the geometric mode in America, and since its destruction by the extension of the city, a few years since, there is nothing comparable with it, in that style, among us. All the symmetry, uniformity, and high art of the old school, were displayed here in artificial plantations, formal gardens with trellises, grottoes, spring-houses, temples, statues, and vases, with numerous ponds of water, jets-d’eau, and other water-works, parterres and an extensive range of hothouses.”

Downing, A. J., August 1851, “The New-York Park” (Horticulturist 6: 347)

“The many beauties and utilities which would gradually grow out of a great park like this, in a great city like New-York, suggest themselves immediately and forcibly. Where would be found so fitting a position for noble works of art, the statues, monuments, and buildings commemorative at once of the great men of the nation, of the history of the age and country, and the genius of our highest artists?”

Citations

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Notes

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