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Fountain of Ceres
Forecourt of the Four Seasons |
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The Forecourt of the Seasons, the continuation of the Court of the Four Seasons to the Marina, is officially called the Forecourt of Ceres, because of Evelyn Beatrice Longman's Fountain of Ceres which commands it. Ceres, or Demeter, the goddess of Agriculture, presided over the Earth's abundance. By her favor, came the good harvest; she it was who first instructed man in the use of the plough. In the loveliest of antique myths she is the mother of Prosperine, the Spring. Miss Longman has expressed her as exultant, regal, young - far less matronly than as conventionally pictured - glorying in her power to bless the cooperative labors of man and nature. She holds as her sceptre the stalk of corn, and offers the crown of summer to the world. The central figure is not more lovely than the pedestal base on which she stands. A frieze of dancing maidens, wrought in cleancut low relief, Greek in manner, celebrate the Harvest feast. In the accompanying illustration, the groups on pylons, by Albert Jaegers, already described, may be seen in the background. | |||