Photos

In the note to a previous post I said that this is a sculpture of Eros (the God of Love, Desire and Fertility in Greek Mythology) in the garden of the Wallenstein Palace in Prague. This was what is said in my Dorling-Kindersley Prague Guide Book. However, after checking in the internet I found that this was not correct. This statue is actually depicting Apollo, the God of Light and the Sun; Truth and Prophecy; Medicine and Healing; Music, Poetry, and more. The sculptor is correct though, Adriaen de Vries (1545-1626). He was born in the Hague and excelled in refined modelling and bronze casting. De Vries became the most famous European sculptor of his generation. There are number of statues by de Vries in the garden of the Wallenstein Palace. These sculptures are copies. The originals were looted in 1648 by the Swedes during the Thirty Years War. The largest collection of De Vries sculptures is now to be found in the Royal Palace in Drottningholm, Stockholm. At Drottningholm a new d e Vries Museum opened in 2005.