II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

they call attention to the fact that all things
are transitory. The garlanded and festooned
portraits honour the memory of great
men and women; their depiction, which is
reminiscent of the portraits on antique coins,
makes their achievements appear timeless
and eternal. But obelisks were also considered
a metaphor for light, an embodiment of the
aspect of “gloria” – they allude to the “radiant”
qualities and achievements of those portrayed.
As relics of the civilization of ancient Egypt,
obelisks had also served as symbols of
wisdom, durability and eternity since the
renaissance. 8
The Main Axis
The two groups of stags originally fl anking a
cascade of water fl owing down into the mirror
basin marked the transition from the parterre
to the garden’s main axis. According to an old
tale, a stag once fl ed into the garden during a
hunt; the dogs caught up with it at this precise
point. The stags provide a thematic counterpoint
to the circular parterre with its homage
to the arts, but in fact the connection is closer
than it may appear at fi rst. The stag is sacred
to the goddess Diana, Apollo’s twin sister,
protectress of nature and all wild animals. If
she hunted in company at all it was always
with her brother. An unwelcome intruder,
Actaeon, was turned into a stag himself and
hunted down by his own dogs. Stag groups
remained a popular subject well into the 19th
century. Beneath their mythological trappings
the hunting scenes also recall the aristocratic
privilege of the deer hunt. Unusual aspects
of the Schwetzingen groups are the powerful
arrangement, the combination with water, the
sheer size and dominant position.
To the west are personifi cations of the four
elements 9 . Earth and Fire are south of the
main avenue, Water and Air north; they all
turn their backs on one another. Verschaffelt’s
8 See also Hermann Bauer, Barock, Kunst einer Epoche, Berlin
1992, pp. 31 ff.
Cesare Ripa, Iconologia, Rom 1603, p. 189.
9 Eva Hofmann, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, Hofbildhauer des
Kurfürsten Carl Theodor in Mannheim, Mannheim 1982, p.
229.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
contract of 1766 is very specifi c about them.
What was ordered were four sculptures
representing Juno, Cybele, Pluto and Neptune,
each surrounded by cherubs and fi tting
attributes. The four elements of Greek natural
philosophy are among the cosmological cycles
popular in Baroque art. They are based on the
conviction that the universe and everything
within it is subject to unchanging laws and
structures; they determine everything including
Man in his limited, fi nite existence.
Next are two marble statues of Justice and
Minerva by Gabriel Grupello. 10 They have
been moved out of the main axis and turned
back towards the palace; in this position they
face the two gilt-lead statues, the Boethian
and the Arcadian Atalantes 11 , on the palace’s
terrace.
The main thoroughfare then takes the visitor
to the avenue of balls. Eight herms bearing
a cube and gilt ball each mark the corners of
10 Udo Kultermann, Gabriel Grupello, Berlin 1968.
11 Re. the attribution see: Udo Kultermann, Gabriel Grupello,
Berlin 1968.
II.
Fig. 4: Obelisk, north half of the
circular parterre’s transverse
axis, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt,
1762-69 (photo: Scholl).
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