Four Statuary Groups in the South Parterre (also known as the French Garden) south of Wrest House, depicting Aeneas and Anchises, the Abduction of Helen of Troy, Venus and Adonis and Meleager and Atalanta

MATERIALS: the statues are made of lead, now painted, and each stands on a splayed Portland stone base, believed to be of C19 date.

DESCRIPTION: the complete ensembles stand approximately three metres high. The statues are positioned in a rectangular formation and flank the central path leading from the house, through the South Parterre, to the Long Canal.

The statue of Aeneas and Anchises is located 50m to the south-east of Wrest Park House and depicts the striding figure of Aeneas carrying Anchises across one shoulder. He is accompanied by his small son Ascanius, and there is a fallen female figure to one side. The statue represents a scene from the poet Virgil's 'Aeniad' where the Trojan prince Aeneas and his son Ascanius escape from Troy, Aeneas carrying his father Anchises.

The statue depicting the Abduction of Helen of Troy is sited 50m to the south-west of the house. It shows a striding soldier carrying a struggling female figure. Beneath them is crouched a male, clasping in one hand the handle to a knife or other implement, now lost, and in the other, a rock. To the far side is the figure of a child. The statue is thought to be loosely derived from a statue by the French sculptor Phillipe Bertrand (1663-1724) depicting the abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris.

The statue depicting Venus and Adonis is sited 25m to the south-east of the house. It shows the seated figure of Venus with Cupid standing behind her, about to release a dove (a symbol of love departing). Adonis stands about to depart, accompanied by a hunting dog.

The statue depicting Atalanta and Meleager is sited 25m to the south-west of the house, shows the standing figure of Meleager holding a shepherd's crook, leaning over the seated figure of Atalanta, with a hunting dog beside the couple. The sculpture was previously identified as depicting Diana and Endymion, but actually depicts Atalanta and Meleager from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' as evidenced by the presence of a boar's head beneath one of the dog's paws.