A Set of Four Marble Figures Emblematic of the Four Seasons, Italy 18th Century

Description

A Set Of Four Marble Figures Emblematic OF The Four Seasons, Italy 18th Century H: 20" _________________________________________________

The Four Seasons … more A Set Of Four Marble Figures Emblematic OF The Four Seasons, Italy 18th Century H: 20" _________________________________________________

The Four Seasons are an ancient decorative motif. Usually each season is represented as an allegorical figure bearing traditional iconographic symbols. The Romans typically represented the seasons as voluptuous goddesses known as the Horae. This imagery carried over into neoclassical art and later became especially popular as garden sculpture. Putti (re-popularized in the Renaissance) became common allegorical figures and often took over the role of the Horae, as here. This change in preference may have occurred because putti are more innocuous than the sexualized goddesses of antiquity. Iconography Spring is shown with profuse flowers because it is the season when most flowering plants blossom. Summer holds a sheaf of wheat and wears a cloth headband to illustrate the labor and product of the wheat harvest, which is done in the summer. Wheat can either be planted in the winter ("winter wheat") or the spring ("spring wheat"), to be harvested at the beginning or very end of summer, respectively. Autumn is the season in which most fruits become ripe. Since grapes are harvested in the fall, wine is also made in the fall. This is alluded to by the goblet. Winter is shown without produce and striving to warm himself because the temperate winter is cold and rather barren. less