Blair Castle, walled garden. View of statue of Summer by John Cheere 1742. Digital image of PT 4420.

Description Blair Castle, walled garden. View of statue of Summer by John Cheere 1742. Digital image of PT 4420.

Date 1973

Catalogue Number SC 767229

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of PT 4420

Scope and Content Statue of 'Summer', Walled Garden, Blair Castle, Perth & Kinross This shows a marble statue representing 'Summer', personified as a young man holding fruits standing next to a tree (which structurally supports the figure's outstretched arms). The sculpture was made in 1742 by John Cheere (1709-87), and is placed within a stone niche in the walled garden, along with figures representing the other three seasons. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/767229

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap