Plinth for statue of Apollo (recreated)
Cliveden Conservation Workshop
Category
Stone
Date
Unknown
Materials
Composite (reconstituted) stone
Measurements
1970 x 710 mm; 1025 mm (Width)
Collection
Stowe, Buckinghamshire
NT 91975.2
Summary
Plinth for statue of Apollo (Lyric)
Full description
This bulbous-style plinth is a recreation of the lost eighteenth-century plinth shown in the 1750’s illustration and later hand-coloured engraving ’A View in the Elysian Fields from The Spring of Helicon’ (example NT 91830.5). Estate Accounts, held in the Huntington Library, refer 'To mending and writing on the plinth of Apollo' in 1768. The plinth includes a surbase with the name APOLLO carved onto it. The font and scale of the lettering replicate a surviving fragment of the original eighteenth century surbase for Apollo. This fragment of surbase is all that remains of the original plinth.
Provenance
Commissioned by the National Trust as part of the recreated statue of Apollo (Lyric) and installed in Stowe Gardens in April 2023. This statue was recreated as part of the statue group Apollo and the Nine Muses. These statues were recreated as an artistic commission in the spirit of the lost original eighteenth-century statue group.
Marks and inscriptions
Carved on the surbase is the name is the name: APOLLO
Makers and roles
Cliveden Conservation Workshop, sculptor