William Huskisson (1770-1830)

John Gibson, RA 1790-l866

1836

Marble

Pimlico Gardens, off Grosvenor Rd, London SW1

entire statue

Photograph and text Jacqueline Banerjee, 2010

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL.]

Another of Gibson's classically draped marble statues, this one in a little Thames-side park shows the statesman William Huskisson in a Roman senator's robes and a deeply thoughtful pose. Sir Robert Peel, who had been present when Huskisson was fatally injured by a train at the ceremonial opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway, thought the sculptor had endowed his subject with an unmerited air of grandeur by portraying him like this.

Gibson, however, responded: "I fancy 150 years hence people will not complain of that" (qtd. in Read 173). As Benedict Read goes on to point out, this just shows Gibson's attitude as a neo-classical sculptor who "aimed at presenting an image worthy virtually of eternity." Such an attitude, says Read, was "certainly still current " at this time (173-4). Unfortunately, though, one cannot count on appealing to later generations. In the next century Osbert Sitwell described the statue facetiously in terms of "Boredom rising from the bath" (qtd. in Baker 33).

References

Baker, Margaret. London Statues and Monuments. Princess Rib=sborough: Shire, 1995.

Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven & London: Yale, 1982.

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Last modified 28 January 2010