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Friday 21 March 2014

Just a Block of Stone - Sepia Saturday

Jefferson's statue in this week's prompt reminded me that it's just a block of stone.

To Michelangelo, "Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it."

Among my photo archives there a few statues tucked away. However my first statue is a bronze that sits upon a block of stone. 
The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen
Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale  "The Little Mermaid" was published in 1837; her statute was 100 years old in 2013. She stands (or rather sits) 1.25 metres high and weighs a mere 175 kilograms.

Quite a contrast with the Imperia statue, at Konstanz at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of German, bordering Switzerland.
Imperia, Konstanz
She is 9 metres high and weighs 18 tonnes. Her name refers to Balzac's short story "La belle Imperia" which satirises the Catholic clergy.
Imperia
(Cropped from Imperia statue by User Fb78 [Wikipedia Commons] - CC BY-SA 2.0)
She holds two men in her hands - Pope Martin V and Emperor Sigsmund.

In Tresco Abbey Gardens on Tresco, Isles of Scilly the statue is much more down to earth.
Gaia
In Greek Mythology Gaia was the personification of the Earth.

I'm not allowed to include the my photo of Gaia and someone attempting to be a lookalike. Don't you just hate the photo bombers?

More than one England football captain has played at Middlesbrough but only one has his statue outside the ground.
George Hardwick
A former Boro' player, George Hardwick was the first England football captain after WWII.

The whistle has blown for full time this week if you need to see match of the day you need to transfer over to Sepia-Saturday-220.

19 comments:

Unknown said...

I love Imperia, Bob! Pretty impressive, clutching her two religious guys...and with a split skirt to boot!

La Nightingail said...

I'll bet your 'Gaia' is prettier than the statue & means much more to you! :)) I didn't realize I had copied (I prefer that term to 'lifted') a picture of Gaia from somewhere off the internet a while back. She's composed of growing plants & a woman is watering her. I went online with the prompt "Gaia" to see if I could find her there, but though there were myriad & tremendously varied forms of the earth mother, my picture was not among them. But that's all right. Because of your post, I now know who she is, so thank you for that!

Jo said...

Not sure if my comment posted or not, I was saying how disappointed I was in the Little Mermaid, she was so small and when I saw her, there was a background of cranes and docks.

Do you remember when they painted a bikini on her?

Wendy said...

The previous owners of our lakehouse left behind a small statue of a Little Mermaid on our dock -- she looks similar to this one. But I think a mermaid at the lake is totally out of place.

Alex Daw said...

We have a sculpture outside our football "cauldron" now called the Suncorp Stadium, formerly Lang Park. It's of Wally Lewis, Emperor of the "cauldron" and hero of our State of Origin matches between NSW and Queensland.

Anonymous said...

What beautiful photos. I thoroughly enjoyed looking up more about Imperia and finding out that it is relatively modern. I thought it was quite old. And a revolving statue. That's something different. In fact it has a strange background altogether. How interesting.

Boobook said...

I've never seen the Imperia image before. What an amazing statue.

Postcardy said...

I wonder what kind of person(s) would erect something like the Imperia statue and why. I like the Gaia statue in its natural setting.

luvlinens said...

Goes to show statues come in all shapes and sizes.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I love the little mermaid pic, bob.
~

Brett Payne said...

You now have me most intrigued about the Gaia lookalike.

Jodie said...

Hi there! I came across your blog from the Blogging A to Z Website and I really like your blog! I'm a 'wanna be' photographer and love to travel, so your posts have really appealed to me! I'd love
for you to check out my blog at http://sothisis40-really.blogspot.com.au
Great writing and site!
Regards, Jodie

Little Nell said...

I just knew you’d post something fom Tresco - so I didn’t! However I was torn between Gaia and the three dancers. The Little Mermaid has always intrigued me because I loved the story as a child.

Barbara Rogers said...

Great collection of statues that you've shared and 3 of whom I'd never seen before. I need to learn more about them!

Mike Brubaker said...

Another fine medley, Bob. I liked how the English footballer statue has a very different stance than the equivalent in America which are always in some position of motion.

Tattered and Lost said...

Thanks for introducing me to Imperia. She's fantastic!

Jackie van Bergen said...

My silly husband likes to think he is a master of imitating statues - I am very quick with the photos these days and quickly shoo him out of the way when others are around.

Sharon said...

The Imperia statue is even more impressive as she rotates slowly. A very beautiful area.

Jofeath said...

Imperia looks amazing! We did a steamer trip on Lake Konstance in 1976, but I see that was over twenty years before her statue was erected - will have to return for another visit.