Untitled
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1720 - 1750
Materials
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Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland
NT 1276905
Summary
Six large composite figures of Classical muses representing music, painting, sculpture, architecture, geography and astronomy
Full description
The statues are around seven feet tall and were designed in the eighteenth century as an integral part of the interior architecture of the Hall. It is unclear when exactly they were made, and the first known reference to them comes in 1769 from John Wallis’s Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland etc. Not long after, Hutchinson (1778) wrote “…in the uppermost niches are statues as large as the life, admirably executed by the best Italian artists…”. Hutchinson then suggests that as one enters the Central Hall using the north door, on one’s left are astronomy, architecture and sculpture, and on one’s right are geography, painting and music. The statues appear to have been made in-situ; beginning with a basic framework of vertical iron pieces hammered into the joints of the stone wall, and then bent into shape. These were covered with tiles, brick and plaster, to form the shape of a mannequin. Muslin was then nailed onto this. Finally, the structures were covered by layers of stucco. This form of construction is highly unusual and gives a very life-like appearance.