3-008-457 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The South Fountain at Witley Court, Worcestershire, the seat of the Earl of Dudley, 1862. Fountain with Perseus and Andromeda in the gardens at Witley Court. 'According to Ovid, as Perseus was passing the territories of Libya he descried on the coast of Ethiopia the naked Andromeda chained to a rock and exposed to the furies of a sea monster. Struck at the sight, he raised himself in the air, flew to the monster, and slew it. For this he obtained the lady in marriage. He is here represented in the act of his chivalrous rescue, mounted on the winged steed Pegasus...The entire group is probably the largest piece of sculpture in Europe...its weight alone exceeds twenty tons...The design is by Mr. Nesfield, and the execution was intrusted to Mr. James Forsyth. The material is Portland stone...The water is brought from a reservoir nearly a mile distant, to which it is forced up by a steam-engine of 40-horse power, yielding an average supply of five thousand gallons a minute, the maximum being ten thousand, capable of being kept up eight hours a day. With all the jets in full play (the centre one can be raised to a height of 120 ft.) the coup d'oeil is magnificent. The entire cost of the waterworks and sculpture has, we believe, exceeded £20,000'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.