page_title: Nymphenburg Palace Park
section_title: Sculpture program
hierarchical_section_title: Nymphenburg Palace Park / Sculpture program
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Figur des Hercules, von Giuseppe Volpini (1717), an der Großen Kaskade im Schlosspark Nymphenburg, München
context_page_description: The Nymphenburg Palace Park ranks among the finest and most important examples of garden design in Germany. In combination with the palace buildings, the Grand circle entrance structures and the expansive park landscape form the ensemble of the Nymphenburg Summer Residence of Bavarian dukes and kings, located in the modern Munich Neuhausen-Nymphenburg borough. The site is a Listed Monument, a Protected Landscape and to a great extent a Natura2000 area.
  The exquisite composition of formal garden elements and English-style country park is considered a masterpiece of garden design and the spacious complex of palace and park has always been a popular attraction for local residents and tourists alike. To the east the park adjoins the palace buildings and the Grand circle. To the south and west the park is largely enclosed by the original Garden wall and borders the Botanical Garden to the north and beyond Menzinger Straße the park peripherie partly merges with the Kapuzinerhölzl forest.
  The designs of the original Baroque gardens had largely been modeled on the French gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles.
context_section_description: The image concept of the park, established in the 18th century, embraces Greco-Roman mythology. The sculptures represent deities and characters of both, Greek and Roman pantheons and myth. Their arrangement was changed during the establishment of the English landscape park. Today only twelve statues remain on the Garden parterre and four have been moved to the Grand Cascade. Generally male and female deities take turns. Most of the statues are made from Laaser and Sterzinger marble, the bases are made of Red Tegernsee marble or tuff.
  The image concept of the Baroque garden has once been considerably more extensive than today's garden furnishings would suggest. Statues and decorative vases, made of gilded lead and twelve vases, made by Guillielmus de Grof from 1717 to 1722 once dotted the parterre. The paths on the Great Cascade were also decorated with a group of fourteen statues made of lead by Guillielmus de Grof, twelve Cherubs represented the months of the year, two others the continents. They were repaired in 1753–54 by Charles de Groff, son of Guillielmus Groff, and placed on the Garden parterre. However, none of the lead statues and vases have survived. They were considered unfashionable by the end of the 18th century and removed, when weathered from exposure, cracked, parts broken off, their iron supports rusted away or fallen from their bases.
  The furnishing with marble statues was an extremely slow process as provisional stucco models lasted for many years. The first designs for the modern marble statues were provided by Franz Ignaz Günther, Johann Baptist Hagenauer and Johann Baptist Straub. Researchers, however, disagree on the exact artist/work attribution.
caption: Statue of Hercules, by Giuseppe Volpini, 1717
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