2-995-764 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Galileo, 1860. One of six '...Sculptures of Philosophers of all ages which decorate the central court of the Oxford University Museum These statues...have been executed by A. Munro, and may be pronounced happy specimens of portrait-sculpture, full of mind, variously developed, the peculiar pursuits and characteristics of the individual being in each case suggested by some appropriate emblem. They display great simplicity of treatment in respect of costume, &c., following as nearly as may be those of the individuals, or, at any rate, that of the period to which they belong. They are carved in Caen stone, and are a little under the full height of man-measuring only 5 feet 6 inches-the proportions of the compartments for which they were destined not admitting of a greater height...Galileo is represented with the concave and convex lenses, indicative of the telescope discovery.' From "Illustrated London News", 1860.