Allegory of Spring, from a Series of the Four Seasons

Entry

With the growing demand for garden sculpture in the Dutch Republic during the seventeenth century, a quite extensive industry for the casting of lead figures developed. The leading artists were members of the Larson family, working alternately in The Hague and London, followed by Arent de Rijp (1659-?) from Delft, Barent Dronrijp (working in the second half of the seventeenth century) from Delft and Amsterdam, and lastly Jonas Gutsche (1624-c. 1677) and his son Andries Gutsche in The Hague. George Larson (working in London c. 1634-1654), Willem (‘Guillaume’) Larson (documented in The Hague 1647-1660) and his son the statuarius (sculptor) Johan (d. 1664) can be seen as the pioneers of this branch of statuary-founding in the Republic.² The Larson family company had a branch in London, headed by George, and one in The Hague run by Willem, probably George’s brother. There must have been quite a considerable production in The Hague of lead figures and fountains for the gardens of the court of the stadholder, for his entourage and for the aristocracy. Willem’s colourful son Johan³ took on the branch in The Hague in 1660. When Johan died in 1664, the company was liquidated and the models, moulds and casting tools were sold.

This ensemble of lead-cast putti – three boys and a girl, whose number and attributes (garland of flowers and rose; sickle and ears of corn; wineglass and bunch of grapes; skates) personify the seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter – dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. This is borne out by their bases in pure rococo style, comprising irregularly curving rocailles. Yet it was possible to establish that in this case seventeenth-century models were reused – partly or entirely originating from the Larsons’ repertoire. That could be demonstrated thanks to the existence of two identical figures in Johann Sigismund Elsholtz’ manuscript Hortus Berolinensis of 1657 which addresses the garden of the Great Elector in Berlin. Elsholtz discusses all the garden statues, 48 in all, which stood in the Elector’s pleasure garden. They included 24 white-painted lead putti, described as opera Georgii Larsoni Angli A[nno] 1654 omnes fabricate (the work of George Larson from England all made in the year 1654).⁴ It is clear from the accompanying text and illustrations that it relates to a group of twelve putti symbolizing the signs of the Zodiac, and the same number of allegorical figures of children, i.e. the Four Seasons, the Five Senses, an Amor cutting his bow, a drinking and a pissing putto. Although George Larson from England (‘Angli’) is explicitly named as the maker, one wonders if he was solely responsible for the realization of this substantial Berlin assignment. Since the Great Elector’s patronage was strongly predisposed to the Netherlands – obviously fueled by his marriage to Henriette Louise, the daughter of Stadholder Frederik Hendrik – it is more likely that Guillaume Larson in The Hague was granted the Berlin commission rather than his brother George in London. There are indeed various indications of an Anglo-Dutch collaboration between the two brothers. The main evidence for involvement of Guillaume and his son Johan in the Berlin assignment is provided by the comparison of Johan’s workshop inventory (1664) with Elsholtz’ manuscript.⁵

With respect to one iconographically rare and eye-catching composition, it can established that it was recorded among the sculptures in the Berlin garden as well as in Johan Larson’s estate.⁶ It is the putto representing Winter in The Four Seasons: a little nude boy on skates that can be traced to an emblem in Daniel Heinsius’ Nederduytsche poemata of 1616.⁷ In the inventory of 1664 two are mentioned, as twee kleyne schaetrijderkens (two little skaters). On Larson’s death, another two incomplete plaster pieces of boys on skates were also found in his workshop.⁸ In other words, this allegorical figure of Winter was part of Johan Larson’s stock before 1664, but had already been made in lead in 1654 for the pleasure garden in Berlin, according to Elsholtz by George Larson in London. The same nude skater is also part of the set of four Seasons featured here (BK-16447-D). The same applies for the female putto depicting Summer (BK-16447-B), whereas the other two Seasons differ from the Berlin counterparts. For example, the putto representing Spring (shown here) is a variant on the figure in Elsholtz’ manuscript – the positioning of the left arm has been altered – and the pose of the Autumn putto (BK-16447-C) resembles the little fellow with tazza and wine jug from the Berlin pleasure garden (also depicted in Elsholtz). However, these differences need not mean that the models of all four were not Larson creations. Specifically, the facial similarities of the four putti suggest they were conceived as an ensemble, but the original models must have gradually undergone adjustments in the course of several generations of reuse. Their provenance from a garden in Rotterdam and their kinship with the models of a seventeenth-century family of statuary founders of The Hague suggest that The Four Seasons were the work of a statuary founder who was active in that region in the middle of the eighteenth century – possibly the sculptor Willem Rottermondt (1701-1755) from The Hague, whose supply of fourteen lead figures for the grotto at Schloss Wilhelmstal in Kassel between 1746 and 1753 is documented.⁹

Variants on the four are to be found in places other than the Berlin garden. Leeuwenberg already indicated a somewhat larger representation of Winter which used to be in the garden of Hôtel de Rames in the northern French town of Abbeville, together with four other putti. Today it can be seen in the local Musée Bocher-de-Perthes.¹⁰ The hôtel’s principal, Josse van Robais, a wealthy cloth weaver from Kortrijk and Middelburg, probably ordered them in the Netherlands round 1713.

The adaptations to the Larson models by the sculptor Aegidius Verhelst (1696-1749) were more drastic. This sculptor from Antwerp entered the service of the Bavarian court in Munich in 1718. Verhelst’s luggage probably contained models of Larson’s putti, which he remodelled into two groups of ‘Season children’ at play.¹¹ The pose, dimensions and detailing of the Spring (with flowers) and Autumn (with drinking bowl and bunch of grapes) figures match those of their counterparts in Amsterdam exactly. Although the other two, seated putti of these small groups do not differ stylistically, they may be Verhelst’s own creations – something that is confirmed by two related groups in lead signed AE VERHELST I[NVENIT]. F[ECIT].¹²

The Larsons’ designs were dispersed partly by reuse of the moulds, partly through plaster casts which they produced themselves and which were in demand among painters. Casts of the young skater (schaetrijderken) are found in various seventeenth- and eighteenth-century paintings and drawings, sometimes even used as study models for artists.¹³

All these replicas and imitations in lead or plaster are proof of the ease with which artists, for several generations, exchanged, recycled and adapted one another’s models and inventions, thus paving the way for a second or third life for their compositions. The Four Seasons in the Rijksmuseum are excellent illustrations of that practice.

Frits Scholten, 2025