The sculptures in the Schönbrunn Garden at

Schönbrunn Palace Schönbrunn Palace (Austrian German, German: Schloss Schönbrunn ) was the main summer residence of the House of Habsburg, Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, the 13th district of Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning "beautiful spring") ha ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria were created between 1773 and 1780 under the direction of Johann Wilhelm Beyer, a German artist and

garden designer A garden designer is someone who designs the plan and features of gardens, either as an amateur or professional. The compositional elements of garden design and landscape design are: terrain, water, planting, constructed elements and buildings, ...

. The Great Parterre of Schönbrunn Garden is lined on both sides with 32 over life-size sculptures that represent mythological deities and virtues. The ''Neptune Fountain'' at the foot of the Gloriette hill is the crowning monument of the Great Parterre. Other sculptures are distributed throughout the garden and palace forecourt, including fountains and pools. Several sculptors were employed during the execution of these works, among them Johann Baptist Hagenauer.

Great Parterre

Neptune Fountain

The ''Neptune Fountain'' at the foot of the Gloriette hill was designed to be the crowning monument of the Great Parterre. Commissioned by Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

, work on the fountain began in 1776 and was completed within four years, just prior to the death of the empress. The overall design was done by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg; the marble sculptural group was executed by Wilhelm Beyer. The retaining wall of the ''Neptune Fountain'' merges into the slope of the Gloriette hill and includes a balustrade adorned with ornate vases. From a projecting semi-oval

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

, a rocky formation emerges with the sea-god

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

and his entourage. The plinth is segmented by panels decorated with masks and separated and embellished with garlands. Neptune stands atop the grotto at the center of the figure group in a shell-shaped chariot holding a trident. A nymph is seated to his left. The sea-goddess

Thetis Thetis ( , or ; ) is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, and one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus. When described as a Nereid in Cl ...

kneels to his right, asking the sea god to favor her son

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

on his voyage to Troy. Appearing at the base of the grotto are four tritons—creatures who are half-man and half-fish—who are part of the sea-god's entourage. Each holds a conch shell trumpet with which they can inspire fear. They are restraining the sea-horses who draw Neptune's chariot across the seas. This image of Neptune commanding the watery dominion was a common symbol in sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth-century art, to represent monarchs controlling the fate of their people. In the nineteenth century, a bank of evergreen trees was planted behind the white figural group to provide a dark contrast. File:Neptun Fountain Schoenbruen Park, Wien.JPG, Neptune and Thetis File:Wien-Schloss Schoenbrunn vom Neptunbrunnen aus gesehen.jpg, Triton File:Neptunbrunnen Detail.JPG, Sea-horse File:Neptunbrunnen-IMG 4813.JPG, Triton File:Neptunbrunnen-IMG 4812.JPG, Triton

Other sculptures

Locations

References

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External links

Schloß Schönbrunn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonbrunn Garden, Sculptures in The 1780 sculptures Buildings and structures completed in 1780 1780 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire

Sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...