Statues - Hither & Thither

 

Description

Circular stone monument, with on top a bronze sculpture group featuring Nelson astride a cannon, Victory above him, a sailor, a mourning Britannia, and a skeleton emerging from beneath a draped flag. Around the pedestal are prisoners of war in shackles, interspersed with four panels showing Nelson's victories at St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar.

Prisoners of war in shackles

Nelson receiving the surrender of the San José at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797	Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798
Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801	The Death of Nelson at Trafalgar

The monument was Liverpool's first major public sculpture and commemorates Nelson as a great English hero. The monument was unveiled in October 1813. It was designed by Matthew Coates Wyatt and sculpted by (Sir) Richard Westmacott. The sculpture was funded by public subscription. William Roscoe (1753-1831) donated a large amount of money to the fund and influenced the choice of designer. As Roscoe was an anti-slavery campaigner, there are debates around the sculpture having a dual role in symbolising both prisoners of war and the suffering produced by slavery.

Inscription(s)

Sculptors

• Sir Richard Westmacott Jr, (1775-1856), British sculptor (Wikipedia).
  
• Matthew Cotes Wyatt (1777-1862), British painter and sculptor (Wikipedia).

Sources & Information

• Bob Speel, Liverpool's Old Town Hall, and Exchange Flags.
• Terry Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of Liverpool. Liverpool University Press, 1997, pp. 51-56.
• Liverpool Museums, Conserving Liverpool's Nelson monument.
• Bob Speel, Nelson Monument in Liverpool, by Sir Richard Westmacott RA.

Tags

Locatie (N 53°24'27" - W 2°59'31") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

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