Page 39 - cn-The Art of Style Status STUDIO pres April 2024

The Ladies Garden was Mrs Greville’s favourite place to sit and enjoy the view across the valley to Ranmore
Common and woods beyond. The garden is the resting place of Margaret Helen Greville D.B.E.
The illegitimate daughter of the Scottish brewing millionaire William McEwan, and lodging housekeeper Helen
Anderson. Margaret was part of the newly wealthy smart set who were competing to entertain the Prince of Wales,
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later to be King Edward VII. In 1891 she married Ronald Greville, eldest son and heir of the 2 Baron Greville
and embarked on a career as a high society socialite. In 1908 Ronald Greville died as did her father in 1913, which
left her a woman of immense fortune and independence which she took full advantage of.
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The garden is most fitting a place, with a narrative set by the 18 century french ‘Quatre Saisons’ statues that are
placed in chronological sequence set against a yew hedging which acts as a visual connective backdrop.
The “Alter-Realist “approach to the composition accounts for the order and progression of the seasons. referenc-
ing the Art Nouveau Movement and poster design of the period. “The Four Seasons” were made up into separate
canvases with the background to each being coloured at the margins in order to assimilate continuity of time. Each
statue was coloured in tints appropriate to the season, thereby animating the female statues and creating a
distinctive narrative.

Polesden Lacey, Surrey. NT