The boastful sculptor and the blind man

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

Whilst looking for some photos online, I came across this site which featured (about 1/3 of the page down) the following legend about a statue:

It was made in 1861 by Raphael Monti and there is a local legend which says that Monti bragged that the statue was absolutely perfect in every way. He challenged anyone to find a fault and many people mounted the scaffolding and examined the statue, finding no fault. Then one day a blind man using his hands examined it. He discovered that the horse had no tongue. Monti was so distraught he flung himself off the top of Cathedral tower and killed himself. On inspection though it can be seen that in fact the horse does have a tongue, Monti did not commit suicide and this local legend that continues to be passed on to new generations to this day is incorrect.

It's interesting that despite being easily disprovable, like many ULs it continues to be passed on today. It also sounds like an old fable, and I'd not be surprised to hear if similar legends exist for other statues around the world.

[Jay Tea]

Aye there's a statue of a Lion in Forbury gardens in Reading - UL has it that the sculptor topped himself after discovering that he had the pronation of the beast all wrong...

The Lion is also being renovated and is currently under scaffolding. This Lion was designed as a War memorial to men from Berkshire who died fighting in Afghanistan in 1880 (in a town called Maiwand - hence the Lions name of "Maiwand Lion"). The Lion was sculpted by George Blackall Simonds and unveiled in 1886. Unfortunately the sculptor forgot to analyse the way Lions walk, and sculpted him with his legs in such a manner that a real Lion would fall over if he ever tried to walk this way. Urban legend has it that when the sculptor realised this very basic error, he committed suicide.

[geminilee]

I heard the exact same legend about the stone lions at St. Augustine, only in this case it was a kid who said "Don't lions have tongues?".

the Bridge of Lions, sculpted hundreds of years ago by an Italian artist said to have committed suicide from the shame of having left an ear and a tongue off the beasts mounted on the bridge.

[Bonnie]

A somewhat similar tale is told of Thomas Thornycroft's reaction to criticism of the stance of Prince Albert's horse, Nimrod, in the sculptor's Prince Consort Memorial (1864) located in Halifax.

In fact, Thornycroft killed himself a second time when the folks in Wolverhampton ridiculed his depiction of Nimrod's legs in the version of Prince Albert's statue unveiled in that community in 1866.

-- Bonnie

[OmmeLise]

If the Maiwand Lion is portrayed in motion, I do not believe it would fall over:

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

I wonder if Southampton fans will be spreading a similar legend in the future?

Ted Bates

[Richard W]

Is that picture altered at all? Unless the guy was a dwarf, that really is an appalingly bad statue. How can you not get the basic proportions right before you start?

The BBC article only shows it from the waist up, and it looks OK if you ignore the legs. And the too-large head. (I can't comment on the facial likeness.)

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

The Sun has a side-on picure, which if anything looks even worse.

[Don Enrico]

Getting the porportions of football (soccer) legends right seems to be especially difficult - here's the foot of German legendary football player UWE Seeler in front of his former club Hamburger Sport Verein's stadium:



Don Enrico

[Jay Tea]

I like the foot, and I agree that that picture of Ted Bates is bloody awful - if the sculptor hasn't subscribed to our UL they should at least think about sticking to the day job

This is a fine statue of Sir Matt, as is this one of Sir Tom

[Tenko]

My art teacher would have a stroke if she ever saw that Ted Bates statue! XD I am LOL about it now.

Sadly, I have no statue legends to share. I only know about different horse poses representing different things and how college statues will come after virgins that graduate there.

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

Originally Posted by Tenko

Sadly, I have no statue legends to share. I only know about different horse poses representing different things.

And what would they be representing perchance?

Be careful... you could be in line for a severe chowing.