Abstract
The recent restoration of two works of stone sculpture in the grounds of the Troja Castle, a pair of fountains on the upper terrace of the garden and a monumental staircase attached to the southern façade of the castle, pointed to the still unexhausted possibilities of their interpretation. The initial impulse was the rediscovery of selected relief elements that had been hidden for a long time under a layer of dirt and biocorrosion.
A deeper understanding of the overall concept of the staircase and the two fountains, and especially their close interconnection, was first of all led by an analysis of their scenographic concept. This is conceived as a kind of artistic game, based on the gradual uncovering of various layers of meaning.
Their uncovering subsequently leads to shifts in the meaning of individual motifs, applied both on the staircase and on the fountains, but also to a change in the overall ideological programme of the staircase, which refers to the final stage of the battle between the Olympians and the Giants. The artistic play with the viewer, applied in equal measure on the staircase and on the fountains, is manifested not only in the fact that the fountains are to be understood as sections of Tartarus that have been pushed to the surface.
The play with the viewer is also reflected in the fact that certain elements and motifs have to be found gradually. This is especially true of the faces of the creatures as if encased in stone that are part of Tartarus.
Moreover, many of these motifs, which should be horrifying, are presented in a deliberately jocular manner and with considerable exaggeration. Literally in the same breath, they evoke horror but also laughter, which naturally leads the viewer to question the meaning of such jokes and the work as a whole.
Wit and humour appear in both of these elements to such an extent that we can assume that the chosen concept was based on the requirements of the commissioner of the work. At the same time, and also because the fountains also contain wit that is in the nature of ironic self-reflection, we must also attribute a significant share of the unusual solution of both works involving a visual joke to the author and his collaborators.