GARDEN SCULPTURE Strictly speaking garden sculpture is not in a class by itself. Very often we may find in a garden a figure taken from the ruins of some old Gothic cathedral which makes a perfect piece of garden sculpture, or again we may see a fragment of a Greek statue or even an old Chinese idol which when given just the right setting seems to be a necessary part of the garden in which it is placed. Not all sculpture, however, is suitable for a garden decoration even though it be very fine sculpture from the point of view of composition or modelling or the expression of an idea or an emotion. Therefore, it would be well to consider here the things which make a piece of sculpture take its proper place in a garden or park.
One of the first requisites of a successful garden decoration is that it be something that will make a pleasing spot and be part of the ensemble. It may be an old well-head or a great stone or terra-cotta vase which will serve the purpose best ; it may be a great jet of water shooting straight up from a pool or simple basin; it may be a statue in stone, lead or bronze. Regardless of what it is, in order to take its proper place in a garden it must have just the right scale and colour.
This question of colour is a very important one. Quite often a fine statue in bronze placed against a background of thick dark foliage is completely lost and counts for nothing as a decoration, whereas a statue in stone on just the right scale, though it may be crudely executed, will be much more successful as a decoration because it counts as a spot of colour where the dark bronze was lost as a silhouette against the trees or shrubbery. Where bronze is used it should be shown silhouetted against the sky or against a garden wall or terrace where the dark bronze will be in contrast to the lighter background, for even though the bronze be light in colour when first placed out of doors it will soon lose its original patina, and gradually grow darker in colour. It is practically im possible to give to bronze an artificial patina which will not change colour when exposed to the elements. (See BRONZE : Corrosion and Restoration.) Marble or stone, on the other hand, when placed out of doors will most often take on a beautiful mellow tone which is in perfect harmony with the landscape and at the same time make a perfect silhouette against the green. (See