Garden and park sculpture: history, stages of development and well-known examples

How often, walking through various parks, we see incredibly beautiful works of art! Garden and park sculpture has been spread from 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 in itself certain goals that have undergone strong changes at different times. Also, thanks to its long history, this kind of sculpture has many stages of development. All these questions will be similarly considered in the article.

Garden and park sculpture: general information

To begin with, it is necessary to define this direction of art, and also to tell about some of its characteristic features. So, this sculpture is one of the varieties of plastics. It is created to decorate various garden and park areas. Such objects can be of any size. It is interesting, for what other purposes are similar art objects created? In addition to the basic, decorative component, garden and park sculpture can perform propaganda or teaching functions. Some objects are created in order to perpetuate the memory of famous people or important events.

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

Birth of garden sculpture

First, it is worthwhile to talk about when and where this type of art first began to appear. So, according to many experts, the decorative sculpture (garden and park) originated in ancient Greece. Then the very first known gardens appeared (in Athens and elsewhere). It was at this time a tradition to decorate them with various sculptural objects. One of the famous places of the time - the gardens of the Academy, where philosophers gathered.

When the Hellenistic era replaced this period, garden and park sculpture received several other tasks. From that moment she was more of a decorative and entertaining function. Known examples of the time - "Old Fisherman", "Rest Satire" and many others.

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

Further stages of development

So, we learned about how the garden-park sculpture originated. Now it's worth continuing our digression into history. It is interesting that in the Renaissance in some countries, for example in Italy, the sculpture developed much more actively than other areas of art. Figures were installed in many places: in large areas 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 pearls, are valuable monuments of cultural heritage and are under special protection and protection.

Baroque gardens deserve special attention. Their distinctive feature is the presence of a large number of park sculptures. Also, vases were used to decorate green areas. Wonderful examples of that time - the Summer Garden, Versailles and many others.

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

In the XIX century, arrangement of garden and park ensembles markedly changed. At the beginning of the century, classicism prevailed, but gradually academicism gradually replaced it, and later also 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. Interestingly, the sculpture was completely different from the earlier examples of baroque and classicism.

Famous examples of garden and park sculptures

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

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

Interestingly, at one time gypsum sculptures were popular. One of them during the Soviet period was decorated with Gorky Park in Moscow. She was called "The Girl with the Paddle".

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