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Gardens

Like Apollo Belvedere and Artemis of Versailles, copies of Venus and Faun were set in grand houses and gardens.

Blenheim

The Duke of Marlborough secured some of the earliest copies in bronze, for Blenheim Palace near Oxford, from Massimiliano Soldani in 1711.

Photo of Italian garden at Blenheim
Photo of Soldani statue
Photo of Soldani statue
Photo of copy of Soldani bronze
Photo of copy of Soldani bronze
Photo of Soldani statue
Photo of Blenheim Great Hall
Photo of Soldani statue

Rousham

The tradition of placing copies of antique statues in English gardens begins at Rousham House near Oxford where William Kent redesigned the Tudor house and the gardens around 1738. Copies of Venus and Faun were set in niches on the principal façade of the house. Faun and Venus are white-enamelled lead copies made by Sir Henry Cheere.

Photo of Rousham Tudor house
  • Façade of the Tudor house at Rousham
Photo of faun & Venus statues at Rousham

The Dying Gaul in the garden was made by Peter Scheemakers in the early 1740s. There were also other statues in the garden, made of lead and painted white, by the van Nost workshop.

Photo of Dying Gaul statue at Rousham

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