Location : Bas-Reliefs Of The Summer Palace
Saint Petersburg.
Twenty-nine terracotta bas-reliefs are located between the windows of the first and second floors. In most bas-reliefs, the background is the sea, water open spaces with the image of Peter’s galleys; widely used symbolism and allegory. Mythological plots of bas-reliefs, which today are perceived as abstract, were associated with specific events among contemporaries. Above the main entrance there is a bas-relief “Minerva surrounded by military trophies”. Here, almost nearby, is the composition: on the chariot harnessed to the top three sea horses, the sea god Poseidon and his wife Amphitrite. Their location at the main entrance indicates the significance of the topics: the victory in the Northern War and the return of Russian power over the sea.
On the northern facade there is a bas-relief “Latona and the Lycian peasants”, the execution of which is not very skillful. According to the myth, the goddess Laton with children – Apollo and Diana – came to the village of Lycian peasants and asked to get drunk. The peasants refused her and were turned into frogs for this. On the western facade, facing the garden, there is a bas-relief of Perseus and Andromeda. Andromeda symbolized the Russian land captured by the Swedes, Perseus – Peter the Liberator. Next to it is a schematically and flatly executed bas-relief “Apollo and Daphne”. According to an ancient myth, Daphne, fleeing the persecution of Apollo, was turned into a tree by the gods. Interestingly, in the bas-relief you can see in the background the Russian galleys of Peter’s time. A number of bas-reliefs reflect myths about the abduction of Europe by Jupiter, about Perseus’s struggle with Medusa,
In terms of mastery of performance, not all bas-reliefs of the Summer Palace are of equal value. Schluter was entrusted with their creation, but death prevented him from fully performing the work. The names of the master artists are still unknown. The different quality of the bas-reliefs allows us to say that there were several. Among the bas-reliefs of the Summer Palace, an image of a dolphin is often found. In Akimov’s “Iconological Lexicon”, which was in use at the beginning of the 18th century, it says: “The silence of the sea expresses through it, because the dolphin emerges only during calm weather.”