Blair Castle, walled garden. View of statue of Spring by John Cheere 1742.

Description Blair Castle, walled garden. View of statue of Spring by John Cheere 1742.

Date 1973

Catalogue Number PT 4421

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 767231

Scope and Content Statue of 'Spring', Walled Garden, Blair Castle, Perth & Kinross This shows a marble statue representing 'Spring'. She is shown as a young woman holding Classical drapery. The figure is one of four representing the Seasons, all set into rough stone niches in the garden wall. The piece was made by sculptor John Cheere (1709-87 in 1742. John Cheere had a shop in London with a yard filled with lead, hardened plaster and marble statuary from which clients like James, 2nd Duke of Atholl could choose such sculptures as: 'Bustos of Poets', 'Ye four Seasons', 'two dogs in metal painted like life' or a 'Hay makeing Man'. Many of these survive today in the castle gardens. Blair Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Atholl, was begun in 1269, extended in the 15th and 16th centuries, and remodelled to resemble a Georgian mansion by architect James Winter in the mid-1700s. The south-east wing was built in 1743-5, and rebuilt to include a clock-tower to designs by architect Archibald Elliot in 1814 after a fire. The castle was 're-baronialised' to designs by architect David Bryce in 1869-71, who also designed the ballroom (1826-7). It was modified again in 1886 (J C Walker), 1904-5 (J McIntyre Henry) and 1920-1 (Sir Robert Lorimer). Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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