3-008-645 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Plaster Monument of Shakspeare, modelled by the late J. E. Thomas, 1862. 'It was designed not merely as a portrait-statue, but as a national monument...the poet is elevated on a lofty and massive pedestal decorated with bas-reliefs, and there are...two lateral allegorical figures of Comedy and Tragedy...The great poet holds a pen in one hand and loose manuscript in the other...Great praise, however, is also due to the sculptor for...the felicitous composition, and the careful modelling of the principal characters, male and female, of Shakspeare's plays in the gilt bas-reliefs which decorate the front and back of what we may call the shaft of the pedestal...A melancholy interest attaches to this monument, for it is said indirectly to have hastened the sculptor's death. It is stated, on good authority, that the Royal commissioners for the International Exhibition, or their agents, had refused him space for it, after considerable discussion with him not of the most conciliatory nature, that he had been indisposed for two or three weeks previously from excessive labour and anxiety, and that he went home after his last interview with the authorities at Kensington, took to his bed, and died in a few days'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.