A WALK AROUND GLEN BURNIE GARDENS IN WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA - PART 2

You may have noticed I took the travel feed widget off my sidebar.  It was just way too inaccurate.  It seems to me that I can enjoy my geography lessons in other areas, like visiting your blogs for instance.  That has always brought me a smile.  Thank you so much for the input and thank you for sharing your blogs with the world.  In the days of not being able to go too far, they helped to keep us going.  I will be forever grateful for everyday blessings.

I am continuing our walk around Glen Burnie Gardens today.  My post yesterday explains its history.  It is part of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.  I realized later there was a section that we did not see, but I am always happy for an excuse to go back further along in the growing season.

Walking along this path I came across the first statue.  "It is of "Actaeon who was a Greek hero and hunter.  According to mythology, when he stumbled across the goddess Artemis (the Romans called her Diana) as she bathed, she turned him into a stag.  His own hunting hounds were unable to recognize him in his new form and they turned on him."

"The sculpture was most likely made in the 1800s, and purchased by Julian Wood Glass Jr., the last member of the Wood or Glass families to live at Glen Burnie.  Julian Wood Glass Jr. chose pieces to make these gardens resemble English country gardens.  English gardens often include copies of famous sculptures and sculptures made to resemble ancient Greek and Roman, also called "Classical" statues."

I didn't find out all of their names above, but those I did are described as follows:

Top left photo: "Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt and moon.  Other versions of this bust are in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, and at Windsor Castle in England."

Top right photo: "Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine, winemaking, theater, fertility and ritual madness. Dionysus (the Romans called him Bacchus) is often depicted with grapes or grape leaves.  In this version the leaves, once visible in his hair, are worn down."

Bottom middle photo: "Look for the bust of Ares with his full helmet.  Ares is the son of Zeus, the Greek god of War, and Hera, the Greek goddess of marriage and of the life of women. This is a reproduction of a Roman copy of the original 420 BCE Greek sculpture by Alkamenes.  The original sculpture is in the State Museum of the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia."  Ares was never very popular and his worship was not extensive in Greece.

Bottom right: "This is a Bacchante or Maenad.  Maenads were female followers of Dionysus, often depicted as 'mad women' who roamed the mountains performing frenzied dances.  This sculpture is a copy of a marble bust by Leandro Biglioschi, an Italian artist working in the 1800s.

This is all I could find on the statues in my collage.  I will add later when and if I find more information.

"The tallest sculpture is a terracotta bust of Julius Caesar in full armor and with a crown of laurel leaves.  Julius Caesar was born around 100 BCE (before common era) and died March 15th, 44 BCE.  He was a celebrated Roman general and statesman."

This area is called the Parterre Garden.  There were tables and umbrellas next to the house and several people were making use of them.  In the center of the flowers, another statue was erected.

The description reads:

"Parterre Garden - The Roman god Mercury takes flight in the center of this elaborate parterre (a level space in a garden occupied by an ornamental arrangement of flower beds."

"Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is also god of shopkeepers and merchants, travelers and transporters of goods, and thieves and tricksters.  He is often compared to his Greek counterpart Hermes."

"Many artists borrowed Hermes’s attributes of winged sandals, caps and staff when depicting Mercury.  This sculpture is likely a copy of the Flemish artist Giambologna's mercury."

"Giambologna (1529-1608) too used Hermes's attributes in his version.  Another version of Giambologna's sculpture is in the rotunda of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC."

The above photo is one I took in August of 2016 of that statue.

Here you can see the marble statue of Flora and her bouquet.  In Roman mythology Flora is the goddess of flowers and the spring season.  There are benches in areas of the garden.  I was grateful for these as I always need time to enjoy my surroundings, and sitting down I am able to take it all in.  The more into the season this alley way will be completely covered.  I truly look forward to going back and seeing how the garden evolves with its flowers.

I would also like to thank the Museum's website that gave me all this wonderful information to share.  I had and still have a great interest in many things, one of them being Greek and Roman mythology.  Little did I know what a great refresher course I would be getting by visiting this beautiful garden.  My history teacher from years ago, would hopefully be proud that his lessons planted seeds in this student's noggin!  I am also grateful to him and to all teachers who expand our minds.

I am ending my post with various scenes around the garden, with no more information other than for you to hopefully enjoy what I saw.