Statuary is the collective term for statues and sculpted figures, particularly those made in quantity for gardens, parks, halls and public buildings. It covers figures carved in marble and stone, cast in bronze, lead, zinc or iron, and moulded in terracotta, artificial stone or plaster, ranging from small figures on plinths to monumental groups intended to terminate a vista.
The fashion for statuary in English gardens grew with the Grand Tour in the eighteenth century, when landowners commissioned or imported copies of celebrated antique figures such as the Medici Venus, the Apollo Belvedere and the Borghese Gladiator. London lead yards, notably those associated with John Cheere and John van Nost, supplied gods, shepherds and allegorical figures in large numbers, while Coade stone and later Victorian composition stone made classical figures more widely affordable. When assessing a piece, buyers consider the material, the quality of modelling, the depth and character of weathering, any repairs to vulnerable limbs and fingers, and whether a figure retains its original base. Well-weathered lichen and a softened surface are valued, and statuary is now used both outdoors and in conservatories, halls and grand interiors.
