Historical Gardens

Lion statues found at the Scott fountain in Detroit’s Belle Isle Park are inspired by ancient Egyptian statues now located in Rome. But copies of these Palatine lions already appeared in Europe decades earlier. The precise connection between them all remains uncertain.

The description of Powerscourt in Ireland by its owner turns out to be a vital source of information for anyone interested in how (the garden of) a late 19th century estate was created over a period of decades. Mervyn E. Wingfield mentions many names of gardeners, sculptors, companies that sell or auction statues and seeds, [...]

In the course of a year I have come across very similar lion statues that can be found in Sweden, The Netherlands and Ireland. They are not only similar in shape, but they all seem to date from the third quarter of the 19th century (1850-1875). The description of the Irish garden by its owner/creator sheds light on the common source of all statues. Unsurprisingly, the source is found in Rome.