When Larz and Isabel Anderson acquired a summer home in Brookline (MA) in 1899, Larz had a vision for the estate’s gardens and landscapes. It was no accident that their first major project was an Italian garden. Larz had an extensive knowledge of and deep appreciation for classic Italian architecture and decorative arts, and that interest shaped the design and decoration of the garden.

This fragment is all that remains of a life-sized terra-cotta statue of Isabel Anderson that stood in the Italian garden.  Likely executed sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s, it captures Isabel’s youth and beauty at an earlier time of their life together. We don’t know the story of the statue or why the head was broken off, but it was likely a victim of vandals after Isabel’s death in 1948.  The head is now safely stored in the collections of the Larz Anderson Automobile Museum in Larz Anderson Park.

Photo: copyright (c) 2013 by Skip Moskey.
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