Green Ted
To Canterbury to start its Sculpture Trail, though we didn't get very far. There is a Gormley in the Cathedral crypt (at least there was in 2011) but we did not risk the high entry charge to check.
Cat. 2,200 and detail. Quote from the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral
The turrets above were replaced in 1935, after their original removal in the time of Dean Powys (1797 - 1809), at the insistence of Alderman Simmons - to allow him to see the clock from his counting house! The statue of Christ, sculpted by Klaus Ringwald, was installed in 1990 to commemorate Anglo-German friendship. The Friends' Trail
Cat. 2,210-1. Quote from KentOnline,
A £200,000 bronze statue of Canterbury Tales author Geoffrey Chaucer will be unveiled in the city today. [12th October 2016]
It is the result of a 10-year campaign by the Canterbury Commemoration Society to acknowledge Geoffrey Chaucer’s important association with the city.
The life-sized figure, sculpted by Sam Holland, is being sited in the Three Cities Garden in Best Lane.
The sculpture will also feature the faces of city personalities around a plinth representing characters from his greatest work, which tells the stories of pilgrims travelling from London to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.
It follows months of research with historians and costume experts to ensure the period detail, including his accessories, are correct.
Sam’s interpretation depicts Chaucer representing himself as one of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, part kindly old man and part all-seeing soothsayer.
The cost has been met through fundraising, donations, grants and the £5,000 sponsorship of each of the 29 characters’ faces, which include Canterbury-born actor Orlando Bloom as the Young Squire. KentOnline
1-2. Bertha
3-4. Ethelbert
5-8 Labels
Cat 2,220-27.
Quote from A Clerk Of Oxford
In 2006, statues of Ethelbert and Bertha were installed here by the Canterbury Commemoration Society (who are now planning to erect a statue of Chaucer in the middle of the city - featuring some, well, surprising faces among the Canterbury pilgrims … The figures are the work of sculptor Stephen Melton …
The idea is that this scene depicts Ethelbert coming to greet Bertha and tell her of the arrival of Augustine and his monks, as she returns from worship at St Martin's Church. (The towers behind her are the gatehouse of St Augustine's Abbey, now part of the King's School). It's very impressive how much research has gone into their clothing and accessories - they're exactly accurate for the period, status and cultural allegiances of Ethelbert and Bertha. Bertha is wearing a Frankish costume based on items found in a sixth-century grave at St Denis, Paris …
Ethelbert's accoutrements are based on those found at Sutton Hoo. aclerkofoxford.blogspot.co.uk