Summary
Mortared stone base for statue group reinsated in 2015
Identification Images (0)
Monument Types
- STATUE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Description
(1) The significance of this lead group by Andrew Carpenter, which formerly stood on the sloping lawn in front of the Temple of Venus, was suggested in Samuel Boyse’s poem The Triumphs of Nature (1742):
"Thy temple, beauteous Venus, we survey’d; Before, fit emblem of the lover’s view, Stand the first foes which nature ever knew; Fit emblem, goddess, of thy cruel pow’r, Which oft has bath’d the warring world in gore; Has smil’d to set the dearest friends at strife, And make the brother snatch the brother’s life: Yet mild at first, thy savage yoke appears, And like this scene a beauteous prospect wears; For scenes like this, thy fatal flame inspire, Unnerve the soul – and kindle soft desire!
It was moved to the far end of the Grecian Valley in August 1765.
(1) Whately’s French translator, M. Latapie, recorded the presence of ‘several statuary groups in whitened lead ... the best of which are Hercules and Anteus [and] Cain & Abel, both pieces full of vigour.’ These colossal lead groups were supplied by Andrew Carpenter in the 1730s. The Hercules and Antaeus is first recorded in another part of the garden in 1735; in 1756 Earl Temple decided to remove the Grenville Column to its present position close to the Temple of Ancient Virtue, and the Hercules and Antaeus took its place to the north-west of the Grecian Temple. The Cain and Abel (see p. 18) was part of the original iconographical scheme of the Temple of Venus and was moved to the far end of the Grecian Valley in 1765. These two groups, and a Hercules and the Boar, which also stood at the north-eastern end, all celebrate the triumph of physical strength, which would have supported the imperial programme of the valley when fully established in the 1760s. They were carefully positioned in the way that painters such as Claude used figures to frame a landscape and enhance the effects of perspective. Latapie’s description provides useful evidence that such lead statues were frequently painted to resemble stone.
Reproduction statue of Cain and Abel placed on the stone foundation in 2015
References
- SNA68496 - National Trust Report: Charles Pugh. 16/5/2014. Stowe Landscape Legacy Project, Task description: Install replica of statue of Hercules and Cacus in The Grecian Valley.
- SZM57353 - Monograph: 1997. Stowe Landscape Gardens Guidebook.
- SZM57410 - Monograph: Bevington M.. 1994. Stowe - The Gardens and the Park.
Designations
None Recorded
Other Statuses and References
- Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- Conservation Area
Associated Events
- ENA2641 - Field Survey, Stowe Guide Book, Stowe Landscape Gardens
Associated Finds
None Recorded
Related Records
- Related to: Grecian Valley, Stowe Landscape Gardens, Stowe (Monument) - 155232 / MNA131222