Arthur Sullivan was the author of the Mikado, the famous play. I saw his statue today when i was walking to the KCL from Embankment. I am not going to talk much about the man, go read his wiki entry if you please. But the statue spoke to me.
Pretty unique statue, no? there’s the bust of Mr. Sullivan at the top, the weeping muse against the plinth and then at the bottom….. 
you have a mask, a mandolin and an open book with some flowers and wreaths. 
the inscription in Latin, Arthur Sullivan, 1842 to 1900. 
The sunbeams were just perfectly placed, but check out how you can see how the muse is almost flowing up to the bust.
Inscribed on the plinth it says:
W. S. Gilbert's words from The Yeomen of the Guard: "Is life a boon? If so, it must befall that Death, whene'er he call, must call too soon".
That muse spoke to me, I stood there like an idiot gazing at her. Brilliant casting and statue, excellent imaginative composition. I cannot find who the sculptor was who made this. Bit of a shame, that. Still, wonderful, loved it.
Full Slideshow here.
4 comments:
ARTHUR Sullivan, Bhaskarda. Apologies for nitpicking, but Andrew Sullivan is the blogger.
Nice photographs.
Good Morning Bhaskar,
The snaps were nice and I googled a bit more to find out about it (more so since I was intrigued by the items lying on the ground...why the mask? Anyways, I was able to find out who's the sculptor.
I believe he is Sir George James Frampton, RA (18 June 1860-21 May 1928). The link below...
http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/sculpture/frampton/sullivan1.html
Text from Wiki...
"A monument in the composer's memory featuring a weeping Muse was erected in the Victoria Embankment Gardens (London) and is inscribed with W. S. Gilbert's words from The Yeomen of the Guard: "Is life a boon? If so, it must befall that Death, whene'er he call, must call too soon". Sullivan wished to be buried in Brompton Cemetery with his parents and brother, but, by order of the Queen, he was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.[32][93] In addition to his knighthood, honours awarded to Sullivan in his lifetime included Doctor in Music, honoris causa, by the Universities of Cambridge (1876) and Oxford (1879); Chevalier, Légion d'honneur, France (1878); The Order of the Medjidieh, by the Sultan of Turkey (1888); and appointment as a Member of the Fourth Class of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) on 30 June 1897.[7][94]"
Ah!, thank you, Jitesh, much appreciated.
and the mask seems to be a reference to the ancient greek symbols for drama, a smiling and a frowning face mask. In Ancient Greece, they used to wear masks while doing theatre.
Thanks for this info... :)
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