A Song to Nature, (sculpture).

A Song to Nature, (sculpture).

Brenner, Victor David, 1871-1924, sculptor.

Magonigle, Harold Van Buren, 1867-1935, architect.

Jno. Williams, Inc., founder.

Rockport Granite Company, carver.

A Song to Nature, (sculpture).

Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Basin: granite.

Sculpture: approx. H. 15 ft.; Upper basin: approx. Diam. 15 ft.; Lower basin: approx. Diam. 30 ft.

(Figure of Pan, below proper left knee:) V BRENNER SCULPT 1916 (Edge of lower basin:) A Song to Nature, Pan the Earth God Answers to The Harmony and Magic Tones Sung to the Lyre by Sweet Harmony (Plaque on inside of fountain basin:) TO THE MEMORY OF/MARY E. SCHENLEY/DONOR OF THIS PARK signed

Fountain features a seated figure of Pan and a smaller delicate figure of Humanity playing a lyre and almost floating above Pan. She is nude to the waist where long flowing drapery begins. The bearded figure of Pan sits on a rock below her. Both figures rest atop a low pedestal adorned with decorative plates. The sculpture sits in the middle of a circular basin. Around the rim of the basin are four turtles which spew water into a larger fountain basin below.

Mythology -- Classical -- Pan

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Music

Figure female -- Full length

Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh

Administered by City of Pittsburgh, Citiparks, Department of Public Works, 611 Second Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222

Located University of Pittsburgh, Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building, front courtyard, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260

Sculpture cost sixty thousand dollars. Funded by City Council (10,000 dollars) and public subscription (50,000 dollars). According to the Evert publication three of the four water-spewing turtles were stolen and the fourth was removed by the city for preservation. Since the turtles are back in place, replacement turtles must have been installed at some point after the 1983 publication date of Evert's book. The 1994 SOS! survey notes that conservation treatment was performed on the fountain in 1988. The conservation was administered through the Pennsylvania Dept. of Recreation and Conservation and Funded by the City of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Dept. of the Interior's Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Evert, Marilyn, "Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture," Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983, pg. 178-179.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, PA0198, PA0057,1989.

Monumental News, Jan. and May 1913; Feb. and Sept. 1914; Dec. 1918.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania survey, 1994.

SOS Assessment Award, 1999.

Evert, Marilyn, "Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture," Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983, pg. 233-234.

Monumental News, Dec. 1918, cover.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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