Summer

The theme of the seasons has been prominent and easily recognisable in European fine art ever since Classical Antiquity. In Ancient Greek mythology, the seasons were personified by the daughters of Hora, Zeus and Themis, usually portrayed as young women adorned with seasonal elements, such as spring flowers, ears of corn, fruit, and the bare branches of trees. These women symbolised the eternal cycle of nature, to which all living things are subject: birth, growth, maturity and death, followed each time by rebirth. Summer, or the Golden Hora, was depicted with a crown made of ears of corn, embodying the patroness of plants, growth and fertility. This bust of Summer, created in 1900, once stood on a concrete pedestal on the east side of the southern parterre at Užutrakis manor, which belonged to the Tyszkiewicz family. It was part of an Antique-style sculptural group called The Seasons. Unfortunately, the sculptures were destroyed after the Second World War and replaced by monuments devoted to Soviet ideological leaders. In 2019, the Directorate of the Trakai National Park initiated the restoration of the manor’s sculptures. A replica of the bust Summer, sculpted and cast from artificial marble, now adorns Užutrakis Park. Although the other sculptures on the main parterre of the park were created by the 18th-century French sculptor Antoine Coysevox, this appears to be an exception.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

The theme of the seasons has been prominent and easily recognisable in European fine art ever since Classical Antiquity. In Ancient Greek mythology, the seasons were personified by the daughters of Hora, Zeus and Themis, usually portrayed as young women adorned with seasonal elements, such as spring flowers, ears of corn, fruit, and the bare branches of trees. These women symbolised the eternal cycle of nature, to which all living things are subject: birth, growth, maturity and death, followed each time by rebirth. Summer, or the Golden Hora, was depicted with a crown made of ears of corn, embodying the patroness of plants, growth and fertility. This bust of Summer, created in 1900, once stood on a concrete pedestal on the east side of the southern parterre at Užutrakis manor, which belonged to the Tyszkiewicz family. It was part of an Antique-style sculptural group called The Seasons. Unfortunately, the sculptures were destroyed after the Second World War and replaced by monuments devoted to Soviet ideological leaders. In 2019, the Directorate of the Trakai National Park initiated the restoration of the manor’s sculptures. A replica of the bust Summer, sculpted and cast from artificial marble, now adorns Užutrakis Park. Although the other sculptures on the main parterre of the park were created by the 18th-century French sculptor Antoine Coysevox, this appears to be an exception.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė