Group of Three Children: Allegory of Summer

Entry

Around 1721 Jan Baptist Xavery (1697-1742) settled in The Hague, after having been a pupil of Michiel van der Voort (1667-1737) in Antwerp and (it is thought) spending time in Vienna and Rome. During his first years in the Northern Netherlands he seems to have concentrated mainly on garden sculpture. It continued to feature significantly in his production, but, as he developed into the Republic’s foremost sculptor, he gradually began to make many portraits, funerary monuments and interior elements as well, including for the court of Prince William IV (cf. BK-1959-78). It is clear from advertisements the sculptor placed in ’s Gravenhaegsche Courant in 1734 and 1735 that he also traded in garden sculptures made by colleagues. Interestingly, ‘very attractively worked groups’ topped the advertising texts, indicating that it was a category that was in high demand at the time.¹

The present terracotta is a model for a group of children of that type, of which no large-scale final version in marble, sandstone or lead is known to exist. In view of the many stalks of corn, the three small children represent an allegory of Summer. The group will undoubtedly have been one in a series of the four seasons, but the three others in the series have vanished. However, in London there is a complete series of four terracotta models for groups of children representing the seasons by Xavery, made in the same year – of which two groups exist in stone.² The terracottas in London are smaller and far more sketchy compared to the Amsterdam Summer, but do display a similar striving towards lively interaction between the children and a pleasing distribution of the attributes. In the present group there is variety in the way the children handle the corn stalks. The girl on the right is holding a sheaf in her right hand as if it were a large bouquet and has a few loose ears of corn in her left hand. The boy in the middle is standing on a bundle and holds in his left hand the broken handle off a sickle. The girl on the left focuses mainly on the boy and has pushed a few ears of corn in her hair. Xavery not only united the individuals through their interaction, but also with the scant drapery around their little naked bodies.

Interestingly, the group is signed, meaning that Xavery had not only intended the terracotta model for use in the workshop. It was also meant to ensure that elsewhere he was seen as the creator of the work. This demonstrates the importance of designs for garden sculptures like this – a fascination that is also evident from the various specimen books for garden ornaments. It also indicates that models of this type were collectors’ items even in Xavery’s own day. Consequently, despite the delicacy of the material and the fact that such works primarily served as an intermediate stage in the creative process, several of Xavery’s models have survived (cf. BK-NM-11378; BK-1959-78). This might also be associated with the overall growing appreciation for the sketch in the seventeenth, and in particular the eighteenth century. An appreciation that doubtlessly was fueled by the informal, capricious character and great artistic significance of the sketch as an art form.

Arjan de Koomen (updated by Bieke van der Mark in 2025)
An earlier version of this entry was published in R. Baarsen et al., Rococo in Nederland, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2001-02, no. 3