Diana of the Chase, by Anna Hyatt Huntington
Live Oak Allée
Cathy and I made Dorothy and Karlee come with us to Brookgreen Gardens today. I posted pictures from Brookgreen taken on August 2 of last year so I’ve tried to make this years pictures different from those. The first picture is of a circular pool with water lilies growing on it and with a sculpture called Diana of the Chase, by Anna Hyatt Huntington, in the center. The sign describing this bronze from 1922 says,
The Roman goddess of the hunt has just released her arrow as a hound leaps at her feet. Considered among Huntington’s finest works, and one of the few where the human figure is primary, Diana of the Chase was so popular that Huntington eventually created a second version some twenty years later to satisfy public demand. The example at Brookgreen was the sculptor’s own casting, originally located in the Huntington’s Fifth Avenue townhouse in New York City.
The second photograph is of one of the huge live oaks (Quercus virginiana) that lines the allée that was the land-side approach to the original Brookgreen Plantation house, which is no longer standing. They were planted as early as the 18th century. The trees are decorated with Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and the branches have resurrection fern (Polypodium polypodioides) growing on them. This spring, 60,000 caladiums were planted under the live oaks and I must say it is a very impressive display.