Denham Place, Buckinghamshire
Unknown artist
ca. 1695
This prospect shows the estate of Sir Roger Hill, a staunch supporter of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (in which the Catholic King James II was supplanted by his daughter Queen Mary II and her husband, his nephew the Protestant King William III of Orange). Built in the Dutch taste design by William Stanton, the estate exhibited Hill's ostentatious political allegiance to William and Mary. The emphasis on garden sculpture follows the Dutch fashions popular in England after 1688: there were at least sixty-five statues in the gardens at Denham Place, including two monumental classical figures of gods at the entrance to the estate. Apart from large statues, twenty-four dancing boys adorned the long wall separating the stable yard from the formal terraces. Garden statues made of lead were generally painted bright colors.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0