Page 65 - cn - fg -fragments and traces - studio curated 07-07-2024

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, later to be King Edward VII. In 1891 she married
nd
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. referencing 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 Lacy NT - Great Bookham, Surrey.

Quatre Saisons -

4 @ 481/8 x 28 1/8 inches-o/c