It was a silent Sunday until something stirred in the water: a fish, an insect, a thing from the deep? Whatever it was, it caused a ring of ripples in the water.
Category: Sculpture Saturday – Silent Sunday
Photos showing sculptures in all media and photos depicting silence anywhere in the world.
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Sculpture Saturday
In Spain for this Baroque Sculpture at the Casa de los dos Aguas in Valencia, the home of the Marquises of the same name. This mansion is now the home of the National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts, and is located in one of the most central locations in the city, a Rococo nobility palace.
The interior is equally impressive, if not quite so ornate but I am always overwhelmed by the entrance which was made in 1745 and has reference to the two rivers of the Valencian community, the Turia and Jucar which are represented by two naked figures and the two urns of water at their feet, reference to the title of the Marquises (los dos aguas).
On one side are two crocodiles, a quiver of arrows and the water pouring from the vessel. On the other side is a reclining lion, another quiver of arrows and the representative vessel pouring water. I’ve enlarged only one of them (see below) just to show some of the detail without you having to click on the enlarging feature.
In the centre of the entrance is an image to the Virgin of the Rosary, patron saint of the House of Dos Aguas and at her foot kneel two women, one with a cornucopia of fruits and the other with a vessel from which pours coins. The whole is a riot of voluptuousness in true Rococo style. The virgin is a plaster copy made in 1855 as the original work disappeared at the end of the century previous.
The Museum is a worthwhile place to visit but if there is no time, the building of the Palacio de los dos Aguas is right in the centre of town and you can stand outside and look at it for free!
If you are into the Baroque – this is an impressive entrance. And one of the side panels in all its glory:
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Saturday Sculpture: LIONS
Linked to Mind Over Memory who hosts this challenge.
First I offer you a real lion, the BIG DADDY Lion, the original MGM Lion.
By Pacific & Atlantic Photos – eBayfrontnews storyback, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37816547 Sorry. I know it isn’t a statue but I couldn’t resist this. I did start off with the bronze statue of the lion from the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas but I thought it paled beside the real thing so there you have it.
Now here are two sculpted Lions. The first one from Lucerne, Switzerland, was described by Mark Twain in his 1880 travelogue “A Tramp Abroad” as “The most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world”. A mortally wounded lion is carved into the wall of a sandstone quarry in the old part of the town, designed as a memorial to mercenary soldiers from central Switzerland who lost their lives defending the royal Tuileries and the family of Louis XVI in Paris in August 1792 during the French Revolution. Six hundred died in their defence and 140 more died afterwards.
The 6m x 10m long monument was designed by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and carved by German stonemason Lucas Ahorn out of the sandstone rock in 1820-21.
The Wounded Lion in Old Lucerne, Switzerland Next we move to Spain, to Cordoba where there are so many statues it is easy to miss this one, but he is part of the Triunfo de San Rafael column, the most elaborate of many devotional columns in Cordoba commemorating the town’s guardian angel. The column at the center of a scenic viewpoint was begun in 1765 and it was finally finished in 1871. He’s quite an ugly old lion but I feel sorry for him as he looks uncared for and few stop to admire him as they gaze upwards at the shiny figure of the saint or rush across the bridge to photograph the more famous Mesquita.
Lion at the base of the Triunfo de San Rafael column in Cordoba, Spain. -
Silent Sunday: Thai Beach
The lights have gone out and a lone visitor to the Shrine looks out over the waves. Early morning on the beach at Thailand at one of the many shrines along the water. Local people come here to leave offerings to the Lord Buddha, in the form of lotus flowers, small portions of cooked rice, fruit and water.
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Silent Sunday: The Seine
An Isolated House surrounded by frost covered trees on the banks of the Seine. -
Sculpture Saturday: Orlando Furioso in Montpelier
Linked to Mind Over Memory who hosts this challenge.
Oblivious to the suffering bronze figure carrying a horse, people sit at tables in the place de l’Europe, awaiting service in the sun. What days those were, what blissful days!
Inspired by a sixteenth-century Italian poem depicting the Fenosa, this bronze statue of Orlando Furioso is that of a man wearing a dead horse on his back, supposed to signify man’s strength in the face of adversity. Linked to Montpelier
Linked to Montpelier (Antigone)
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Silent Sunday: Hua Hin, Thailand
Sunrise over the Gulf of Siam -
Sculpture Saturday: Basel
Linked to Mind Over Memory who hosts this challenge.
It was just a few hours stopover in Basel – a town in which I hope to spend more time on my next trip to Switzerland. Neat, tidy, like all Swiss towns yet with a quirkiness that is all its own. I particularly remember some very lovely small shops and even in the short time I spent there I managed to pick up some interesting souvenirs.
Then I looked up and saw it.
The building is called the Rosshof and the sculptor of this work is Hubertus von der Goltz. I knew nothing about him until I saw this work but since then I’ve enjoyed seeing his installations and his work online. His website is worth a visit.
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Sculpture Saturday in Pézenas
Hosted at https://nofixedplans5.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/sculpture-.saturday-9/
Statue to the 17th century French playwright Moliėre by Jean-Antoine Injalbert This statue to the great French playwright Moliėre, one of the great comic-writers of all time and described by Stendahl as “Molière, the great painter of man”, is to be found in the town of Pézenas in the Langudoc-Rousillon area of France, where he lived for many years. He had an acting troupe which worked in both Paris and Pézenas and had as patron, the brother of the King, the Duke of Orleans.
He led an extraordinary life and his death became legend; he died on stage, while performing his final play, Le Malade Imaginaire, or rather, he collapsed on stage, and died a few hours later at his home. At that time, the Catholic church in France condemned the theatre as a school for scandal, held all actors to be ipso facto excommunicated, and forbade their burial in consecrated ground – which included every cemetery in Paris. Two priests refused to visit him to administer the sacraments and the third arrived too late.
The white marble statue was sculpted by Jean-Antoine Injalbert in 1897 and it shows the maid Lucette from Moliere’s play Monsieur de Pourceaugnac paying tribute to the master playwright with a goat-footed satyr representing Satire sitting at the bottom of the statue. Masks of the actors Coquelin Cadet and Jeanne Ludwig are on the back of the monument
Moliėre In 1792 his remains were brought to the Museum of French monuments and in 1817 transferred to Le Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.
Further challenges over at https://nofixedplans5.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/sculpture-.saturday-9/
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Silent Sunday in Crete
The Oldest Byzantine Church in Crete It definitely was a silent Sunday when we came across this deserted Byzantine church which we later found to be the oldest in Crete. Overgrown with grasses and weeds, it still has charm and I remember well the smell of the herbs underfoot as we explored the near-ruined building.
MARI'S TRAVELS WITH HER CAMERA 
