The $250,000 donated by Lady Gaga and her family to the Hearst Castle Preservation Foundation will pay for restoration of two significant sculpture groups on the hilltop.
The projects will help protect two sets of iconic artwork from deterioration. One, a 13th-century sandstone Spanish sculpture of the Madonna and Child, is perched high above the massive main doors of La Casa Grande, near the center of the façade of the main building in the group of structures known collectively as Hearst Castle.
The other, an early 20th-century Carrara marble statuary group, depicts Venus being raised by mermen from the waters of the outdoor Neptune Pool, where Lady Gagashot a music video in mid-February. The sculptures, created by Charles-Georges Cassou in Paris in the 1920s, are bracketed by a pair of broad staircases connecting the pool with the main houses.
a 13th-century sandstone Spanish sculpture of the Madonna and Child, is perched high above the massive main doors of La Casa Grande, near the center of the façade of the main building in the group of structures known collectively as Hearst Castle.
