The Diana Fountain in

Bushy Park Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton ...

, in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

, is a seventeenth-century statue ensemble and water feature in an eighteenth-century setting with a surrounding pool and mile long tree lined vistas which honors the Roman Goddess Diana. Originally created for

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

in the 1630s, and remodelled about 1690, the fountain has stood since 1713 in Bushy Park, and now forms a large traffic island in Chestnut Avenue. It is the focal point of two major vistas designed by Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

, including Chestnut Avenue which is the ceremonial landward approach to

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. The traffic island is circular and contains a diameter pool surrounded by lawns, with the Diana statue on a tall base in the middle of the pool. The fountain was listed as Grade II in 1952 and in 2011 reclassified as Grade I.

History

The

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

sculptures were originally commissioned by

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

for

Queen Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

's garden at

in central London. The original design for the fountain was apparently by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

, whose sketch drawing survives at

Chatsworth House Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the House of Cavendish, Cavendish family sin ...

, showing figures recognisably the same as those in place today, but in a different arrangement and in a different stonework setting. The Somerset House base was lower, and the surrounding pool much smaller, enabling a much closer view of the figures than is possible today. The central figure is naked in the drawing, and parts of the design are closely copied from

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

s of earlier fountains in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. The execution of the gilt statue which forms the pinnacle of the tableaux has been attributed to

Hubert Le Sueur Hubert Le Sueur (c. 1580 – 1658) was a French sculptor with the contemporaneous reputation of having trained in Giambologna's Florentine workshop. He assisted Giambologna's foreman, Pietro Tacca, in Paris, in finishing and erecting the equestr ...

, and related to payments to him from the king. The other metal sculptures, which are still ungilded, have been attributed to his rival

Francesco Fanelli Francesco Fanelli (c. 1590–1653) was an Italian sculptor, born in Florence, who spent most of his career in England. He likely had contacts if not training in the studio of Giambologna, then in the hands of Pietro Francavilla and Pietro Tacca ...

, and also to Le Sueur; a mention by

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or memo ...

in 1662 gave the whole fountain to Fanelli, but most historians follow the Royal Parks in preferring the documented involvement of Le Sueur. Preparation of the site had begun in 1633–34, and Le Sueur was given what appears to be his final payment after completion in 1637;

Nicholas Stone Nicholas Stone (1586/87 – 24 August 1647) was an English sculptor and architect. In 1619 he was appointed master-mason to James I, and in 1626 to Charles I. During his career he was the mason responsible for not only the building of ...

was also paid for work on the stone elements, which were in black marble. In the original arrangement, recorded in a drawing of perhaps the 1670s, the figures of the boys, now on the corners, were higher up, at a level between the central female figure above and the sea-monsters carrying women below, and the

scallop Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...

shells were on the corners, level with the breasts of the four female figures, catching water spouting from the fish held by the boys. During the

English Commonwealth The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

had the fountain relocated to the privy garden at Hampton Court Palace, where this and other such works were not popular with all his supporters; he was urged by a Mrs Nethaway to "Demolish these monsters that are set up as ornaments". It is in an inventory of 1659 that the central figure is first called "Arethusa". After 1689

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...

and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...

commissioned Sir

to rebuild and expand much of Hampton Court Palace, and this eventually included the creation of Chestnut Avenue with its centrepiece the Diana Fountain as the grand approach to the Palace crossing Bushy Park. Wren, supervising William Talman, completed this part of the project in 1713 during the reign of Queen

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

. The top, scrolled part of the current base, and so the current rearrangement of the figures, is by Edward Pierce, in about 1690, when the sculptures were still in the privy garden, although the fountain was removed from there and put in storage in 1701. The lower rusticated part, "disproportionately tall", was erected for the new site in Bushy Park, and the central figure was gilded, apparently for the first time, for its re-erection. The female figure on top of the fountain "has over her long life been known as Diana, Arethusa, Venus and even

Proserpina Proserpina ( , ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whos ...

", and recently "some younger visitors" take her for

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

. The official view is now firmly that she represents Arethusa, although the fountain continues to be known as the "Diana Fountain", and dissident views are still held by some parties. Charles I had the

Longford River The Longford River is an artificial waterway, a distributary designed to embellish a park, that diverts water from the River Colne at Longford near Colnbrook in England, to Bushy Park and Hampton Court Palace. Its main outlet is to the reach ...

dug from the River Colne to

in order to power the palace water features, and in 1713 Sir Christopher Wren utilised this water to give the complex a set of gravity fed water spouts. In the 297 years after the statue was relocated to its current site in the park, many of the waterspouts became clogged and only four were functioning before the renovations of 2009/10. During World War II the pool was drained and part of Chestnut Avenue was used for

Camp Griffiss Camp Griffiss was a US military base in the United Kingdom during and after World War II. Constructed within the grounds of Bushy Park in Middlesex, (now in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames), England, it served as the European Headquart ...

, the first headquarters of

SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF th ...

and the base where D-Day was planned. The base closed in the 1950s and Chestnut Avenue was subsequently restored. The complex was renovated in 2010 and the main statue was re-gilded.

Gallery

File:Nymphs Diana Fountain Bushy Park.jpg, Close ups of nymphs showing the source of some of the waterjets File:Somerset House by Kip 1722.JPG,

and gardens in 1722, after the fountain had been moved File:The Privy Garden, Hampton Court Palace - geograph.org.uk - 260428.jpg, The Privy Garden,

File:The Arethusa Diana Fountain, Bushy Park, Surrey, England. (874343341).jpg, Prior to restoration, the central statue ungilded and most waterspouts were blocked File:Dry Diana Fountain - geograph.org.uk - 1613616.jpg, The pool was drained during the restoration File:Diana - geograph.org.uk - 1613627.jpg, Diana being returned after restoration

Vistas

The Diana Fountain is at the junction of two long straight tree lined avenues, Lime Avenue and Chestnut Avenue which cross at right angles. The Junction is off centre to both Avenues. ;Chestnut Avenue Chestnut Avenue crosses Bushy Park from

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...

to Hampton Court Palace and contains a road with wide lawns on both sides. There are multiple rows of

horse chestnut The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species n ...

trees on both sides of Chestnut Avenue. Chestnut Avenue was created as the ceremonial approach to Hampton Court Palace and to this day still contains a road across the Park, though for the sake of the deer, motor vehicles are only allowed on it during daylight hours. It was part of the route for the men's road race cycling event at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. BBC
retrieved 25 April 2011 File:Diana and Chestnut avenue.JPG, Diana with Chestnut Avenue behind File:Chestnut avenue, Bushy Park, (among the trees).jpg, Detail shot of the rows of trees near the Teddington gate ;Lime Avenue Lime Avenue is grassed and has multiple rows of

lime tree ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

s on both sides of it; the longer of its two sections runs between The Diana Fountain and White Lodge. File:Lime Avenue - geograph.org.uk - 1613639.jpg, Lime Avenue looking towards White Lodge File:Stag on Lime Avenue - geograph.org.uk - 1613690.jpg, The avenues are grazed by herds of Fallow and Red deer File:View of Diana fountain along Lime Avenue.JPG, The Diana Fountain viewed along Lime Avenue File:Ha-ha, Lime avenue.JPG, A

Ha-ha A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...

at the White Lodge end of Lime Avenue keeps the deer in the park without interrupting the view from the Diana fountain

References

Diana and Arethusa https://www.theitalianacademy.com/portfolio-posts/myth-arethusa-alpheus/

Bibliography

*Fisher, Geoffrey and Newman, John.
jstor "A fountain design by Inigo Jones"
''

The Burlington Magazine ''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation sin ...

'', Vol. 127, No. 989 (Aug. 1985), pp. 530–533, retrieved 12 June 2010 *Harris, John. ''The Diana Fountain at Hampton Court'', ''

'', Vol. 111, No. 796 (Jul. 1969), pp. 444–449
Jstor
*Leapman, Michael. ''Inigo; The Life of Inigo Jones, The Architect of the English Renaissance'', 2004, Headline, *Little, Patrick. ''The Cromwellian Protectorate'', Boydell Press, 2007, , *Longstaffe-Gowan, Todd and Russell, Vivian. ''The gardens and parks at Hampton Court Palace'', Frances Lincoln ltd, 2005, ,
google books
*Worsley, Lucy and Souden, David, ''Hampton Court Palace'', 2005,

Historic Royal Palaces Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that manages some of the United Kingdom's unoccupied royal palaces. These are: * Tower of London * Hampton Court Palace * Kensington Palace (State Apartments and Orangery) * The Banqueting Hous ...

/Merrell, *Sheaf, John and Howe, Ken, ''Hampton and Teddington Past'', 2000, Historical Publications Ltd, {{LB Richmond 1630s sculptures Bushy Park Fountains in the United Kingdom Outdoor sculptures in London Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Inigo Jones buildings

History

Gallery

Vistas

See also

References

Bibliography