A severed bear’s leg showing the sole of the foot, the heraldic symbol of the powerful von Planta family, is sculpted over the doorway, dated 1569, of an ancient house in Ardez, an historic Lower Engadine Valley village in Grisons or Graubünden canton, eastern Switzerland. Above it, a whimsical 16th century painted frieze features a fantastical combination of sunflower faces, mythical creatures and naked winged cherubs or putti.
Ardez, Graubünden or Grisons canton, eastern Switzerland: a severed bear’s leg showing the sole of the foot, the heraldic symbol of the powerful von Planta family, is sculpted over the doorway, dated 1569, of an ancient house in this historic village in the Lower Engadine Valley. Above it, a whimsical 16th century painted frieze features a fantastical combination of sunflower faces, mythical creatures and naked winged cherubs or putti. The Planta were among about a dozen noble families and clans comprising the ruling class in the Grisons, Switzerland’s largest canton. Andreas Planta served as Chancellor of the Upper Engadine in the 13th century and Thomas Planta was Bishop of Chur from 1551 to 1565. In Ardez, the Planta were the first recorded owners of the Tuor Ardez or Vonzun Turm, a medieval stone tower that served as a family stronghold before serving as a district prison. Ardez, part of the municipality of Scuol, is renowned for its superbly restored 16th and 17th century houses decorated with preserved original wall art, either painted on facades or scratched in sgraffito. Sgraffito is the ancient artistic technique of scratching or cutting away parts of a surface layer of plaster, stucco or paint to expose a different colour or texture. Its heyday in Grisons / Graubünden was in the 1600s and 1700s, but the craft was revived in the early 1900s amid fresh appreciation of traditional regional artistic styles. The canton’s artists and craftsmen today use sgraffito both in restoration work and new build projects.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Ardez, Graubünden or Grisons canton, eastern Switzerland
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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