The surprisingly strange origins of these quirky statues!
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Overhead forest photo by Spencer Watson via Unsplash.
Book spine photo by Annie Spratt via Unsplash.
Music: "Wonderland" by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Bibliography:
Borzelleca, Joseph F. "Paracelsus: Herald of Modern Toxicology." Toxicological Sciences. Oxford Academic: January 1, 2000. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/53/1/2/1673334
Darwin, Erasmus. The Botanic Garden: A Poem in Two Parts Containing The Economy of Vegetation and The Loves of the Plants, with Philosophical Notes : Also The Temple of Nature, a Poem. United Kingdom: Jones & Company, 1825.
The Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Gnome." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/art/gnome
The Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Priapus." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Priapus
"Garden Gnomes: History, Origination & Amazing Facts." World History Edu. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://www.worldhistoryedu.com/garden-gnomes/
Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages. 1928.
Hargrave, John G. "Paracelsus." Britannica Academic. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://academic-eb-com.eres.qnl.qa/levels/collegiate/article/Paracelsus/58368
Lewis, Randy. "How George Harrison Rescued 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' and Launched a Film Producing Career." Los Angeles Times. October 10, 2019. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-10-10/george-harrison-monty-python-handmade-films-festival
"Nidavellir/Svartalfheim." Norse Mythology for Smart People. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://norse-mythology.org/cosmology/the-nine-worlds/svartalfheim/
"Priapism." Mayo Clinic. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/priapism/symptoms-causes/syc-20352005
"Priapus." The New World Encyclopedia. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/priapus
Welcome back, friends, to Scholar Minor. If you are a frequent listener, you’ve probably guessed by now that I have a “thing” for poetry. So this week, we’ll begin this very strange episode with an excerpt from Erasmus Darwin’s 1791 The Botanic Garden:
"You! whose fine fingers fill the organic cells,
With virgin earth, of woods and bones and shells;
Mould with retractile glue their spongy beds,
And stretch and strengthen all their fibre-threads.
Late when the mass obeys its changeful doom,
And sinks to earth, its cradle and its tomb,
Gnomes! with nice eye the slow solution watch,
With fostering hand the parting atoms catch,
Join in new forms, combine with life and sense
And guide and guard the transmigrating Ens."
Yesterday I spent the day in the garden, giving my herb planter some much-needed TLC and introducing some new plants - tomatoes, marigolds, and one of my very favorites - a baby flowering maple.
Despite being pleased with the overall outcome, something is missing. I have been on a fool’s quest for almost a decade - searching for the perfect garden gnome. I am a bit of a gnome perfectionist. There are so many styles of gnome available, but I am definitely a fan of traditional gnomes and will continue looking out for that perfect gnome that speaks to my soul.
Since I’ve had garden gnomes on the brain for a good week and a half, I thought it might be fun to learn a little about the origins and history of these strange statues. And boy - did I learn some weird stuff. This was an incredibly fun episode to research and it led me all kinds of unexpected directions. As a word of warning, some of the early history of garden gnomes is a little . . . odd. While I will keep things academic, be aware that there will be some potentially suggestive content ahead.
That warning out of the way, let’s talk about the bizarre history of the humble garden gnome.
The origins of garden gnomes can be traced back to ancient Greece. Dionysus, the god of wine, fruitfulness, and ecstasy, had a son with either a local nymph or the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. This son's name was Priapus, and he was associated with the fertility of livestock, fruit trees, vegetables - and with the male genitalia.
He is depicted in ancient art and sculpture with a grotesquely oversized and permanent erection. In fact, the medical condition priapism - or a prolonged and painful erection caused by some medications - draws its name from this Greek deity.
The donkey was sacred to Priapus, as it represented sexual potency to the Greeks, and donkeys would be sacrificed in his honor. Priapus became viewed as good luck, so seafarers and fishermen would try to appease him before ocean journeys. Priapus also became the god of gardens, as his presence was believed to encourage the growth and reproduction of fruits and vegetables - and soon his statue would be included in rural gardens as a combination good luck charm and scarecrow.
Unfortunately, the mythology surrounding Priapus suggests that he was thoroughly awful and predatory in his interactions with other deities and with humans. Sometimes statues of Priapus were used to mark the perimeters of private gardens, as he was viewed as a threatening presence who would do terrible things to trespassers.
Priapus' popularity continued beyond ancient Greece. In the Roman city of Pompeii, destroyed and simultaneously preserved in 79 CE by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a famous fresco of Priapus depicts the deity weighing his comically large phallus against a bag of money. The Romans were very fond of Priapus and his antics, and also kept up the Greek tradition of Priapus garden statuary and it began to spread with their travels throughout the ancient world.
Priapus was not - thankfully - the only inspiration for the garden gnome as we know it today. Gnomes were present in the folklore of Northern and Western Europe for many thousands of years, having originated with the dwarves of Norse mythology. The dwarves of Norse myth were skilled craftsmen and smiths, dwelling underground in a realm known as Nidavellir (in Old Norse) or Svartalfheim (according to the Prose Edda).
Stories of the Norse dwarves spread throughout Europe and, eventually, they turned into gnomes - commonly believed in medieval folklore to be small, usually hunchbacked old men who lived underground and guarded gold and other treasures. This idea of gnomes as elemental guardians of the earth was further popularized by Renaissance-era Swiss alchemist and physician, Paracelsus.
Paracelsus, whose name at birth was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (no wonder he took on a nickname) was the son of a doctor and chemist, and attended the Bergschule school in Austria where he learned the basics of mineral analysis for mining operations. Paracelsus became interested in alchemy - the transmutation of metals and minerals into gold - combining his mining and chemical knowledge into a lifetime of research and writing.
Paracelsus is often credited with introducing chemistry to medicine, and had a distinctly anti-establishment attitude which is reflected in much of his work. One of his most widely quoted recommendations, reflective of his typical gruff attitude, advises as follows: "The universities do not teach all things, so a doctor must seek out old wives, gipsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveller . . . knowledge is experience."
Having a great deal of interest in folk remedies, herb lore, astrology, and alchemy - Paracelsus wrote in depth about the concept of Elementals - nature spirits who were associated with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Anyone who is a frequent player of fantasy RPGs will be very familiar with this idea.
The earth elementals were grouped under the heading of gnomes - as summarized by Manly P. Hall in his 1925 The Secret Teachings of All Ages:
". . . There are other gnomes, who are called tree and forest sprites. To this group belong the sylvestres, satyrs, pans, dryads, hamadryads, durdalis, elves, brownies, and little old men of the woods. Paracelsus states that the gnomes build houses of substances resembling in their constituencies alabaster, marble, and cement, but the true nature of these materials is unknown, having no counterpart in physical nature.
Some families of gnomes gather in communities, while others are indigenous to the substances with and in which they work. For example, the hamadryads live and die with the plants or trees of which they are a part. Every shrub and flower is said to have its own Nature spirit, which often uses the physical body of the plant as its habitation.
The ancient philosophers, recognizing the principle of intelligence manifesting itself in every department of Nature alike, believed that the quality of natural selection exhibited by creatures not possessing organized mentalities expressed in reality the decisions of the Nature spirits themselves."
Paracelsus is responsible for cementing the mainstream association of “gnome” with “little bearded nature spirit.” Combine that with the protective garden statue of Priapus, and voila - the modern garden gnome was born.
The next player in the unexpectedly complex history of the garden gnome is 17th century French printmaker and draftsman, Jacques Callot. He was a master etcher, often working for the Medici court. Etching was a process of using a strong acid to create an artistic work on a metal surface, and is the basic technique behind many modern processes including the creation of circuit boards.
Callot began illustrating gnomes, and his works depict gnomes as we would recognize them today - tiny old men, often bearded, wearing pointy hats. They are drawn playing instruments, brandishing swords, or wandering along with a walking stick.
These etchings were intended for use by porcelain companies to create small figurines for display in the home, and they were published in 1616. Sure enough, having small decorative gnomes around the house for luck and protection caught on - and they were well on their way to become the kitsch standby they are today.
Germany and Austria were among the first regions to enthusiastically embrace gnome figurines in the 19th century, with a ceramics company called Baehr und Maresch starting to manufacture designs in the 1840s. They are responsible for one of the most iconic gnome statues in history, which you've probably seen before, even without realizing it.
A bearded gnome, in a pointed red had and red pants, sporting a long white beard, casually reclines on his side smoking from a long pipe. I did a little searching, and a pair of these Baehr und Maresch gnomes will set you back almost $2,500 dollars at auction.
German-manufactured gnomes became wildly popular among the Victorians. English lawyer and microscopist - which is, yes, a person who uses microscopes - Sir Frank Crisp - purchased Friar Park in Henly-on-Thames in 1889. Crisp was an eccentric gentleman, and loved alpine gardens, so with the help of landscape architect Henry Ernest Milner he designed an incredible public garden space.
The garden included a 20-foot replica of the Matterhorn, a massive colorful 30-room gothic mansion, underground waterways, caves, and . . . gnomes. LOTS of gnomes. In fact, Crisp had the second largest collection of gnomes in all of the United Kingdom at the time. He opened Friar Park to the public, and tourists would flock to see the extraordinary 62 acres of gardens.
Following Crisp's death, Friar Park was donated to an order of nuns who were unable to maintain the extensive property. German-made gnomes fell out of favor during and immediately after the second world war, and Friar Park likewise suffered. It fell into disrepair until the 1970s when it was purchased by Beatles guitarist George Harrison.
Harrison repaired and maintained the house and gardens. As a weird aside, in the late 70s when EMI Films backed out of funding the film Monty Python's Life of Brian, Harrison put up the property as collateral to back the project as he was a huge fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
The 1970s also saw a second wave in the popularity of the garden gnome. While earlier gnomes were fairly predictable and nondescript, the gnomes of the 70s were truly free spirits. It’s during this decade we find humorous depictions of garden gnomes enjoying a wide range of activities.
Well, folks, I hope that you were entertained by the strange history of the garden gnome. While I will be on the lookout for a typical modern gnome for my own garden, I think I can safely say I will NOT install any Priapus statues - whether they’re good luck or not.
My references for this week’s episode are in the show notes, and I encourage you to check out my website - www.ursaminorcreations.com - for past episodes and additional content. Scholar Minor is also on YouTube for your listening and sharing convenience. If you’d like to say hello, or have anything in particular you’d like to hear about, feel free to email me at ursaminorcontact@gmail.com. I’ll include the email in the show notes as well.
That’s all for us today, friends, have a beautiful week and I can’t wait to talk to you again very soon.