Changes in taste
I suppose it would be difficult for the authorities to quietly sweep this object away, much though they would like to replace it with something like a bust of Nelson Mandela (or is his star already a little faded?), for it is a familiar feature of Bury St Edmunds, on its patch of grass opposite the Tesco Metro, and of some trifling artistic merit. But, oh dear; how very regrettable; this isn't at all the sort of thing we want nowadays, in this more enlightened age, is it?
The style is reminiscent of Alfred (Statue of Eros) Gilbert. Did those funny helmets ever exist, I wonder, outside the paintings of Sir Edward Burne-Jones and the engravings of Walter Crane? The figure is Courage: on the opposite side is Sympathy, a deeply thoughtful, consumptive-looking young woman cradling a puppy in her hands. When it was put up backs must have straightened with pride and salt tears brimmed in upturned eyes before coursing down to dampen manly Edwardian cheek-tufts. No longer. Today, if we notice at all, it is only to snigger. How, in another hundred years, our great-grandchildren will laugh at all our installation art and rubbish sculpture ...not to mention those thousands of busts of Nelson Mandela.
The memorial commemorates Marie Louise de la Ramée, the Bury-born daughter of French refugees. The 45 romantic novels she wrote under the pen-name Ouida have suffered a decline in popularity. A bronze plaque features a portrait, in high relief, by an unknown artist. It must be said, if the memorialist was faithful to his subject, that Miss la Ramée was no great beauty. Funds to erect the monument were subscribed by readers of the Daily Mirror and by friends and admirers in all parts of the world.
Changes in taste
I suppose it would be difficult for the authorities to quietly sweep this object away, much though they would like to replace it with something like a bust of Nelson Mandela (or is his star already a little faded?), for it is a familiar feature of Bury St Edmunds, on its patch of grass opposite the Tesco Metro, and of some trifling artistic merit. But, oh dear; how very regrettable; this isn't at all the sort of thing we want nowadays, in this more enlightened age, is it?
The style is reminiscent of Alfred (Statue of Eros) Gilbert. Did those funny helmets ever exist, I wonder, outside the paintings of Sir Edward Burne-Jones and the engravings of Walter Crane? The figure is Courage: on the opposite side is Sympathy, a deeply thoughtful, consumptive-looking young woman cradling a puppy in her hands. When it was put up backs must have straightened with pride and salt tears brimmed in upturned eyes before coursing down to dampen manly Edwardian cheek-tufts. No longer. Today, if we notice at all, it is only to snigger. How, in another hundred years, our great-grandchildren will laugh at all our installation art and rubbish sculpture ...not to mention those thousands of busts of Nelson Mandela.
The memorial commemorates Marie Louise de la Ramée, the Bury-born daughter of French refugees. The 45 romantic novels she wrote under the pen-name Ouida have suffered a decline in popularity. A bronze plaque features a portrait, in high relief, by an unknown artist. It must be said, if the memorialist was faithful to his subject, that Miss la Ramée was no great beauty. Funds to erect the monument were subscribed by readers of the Daily Mirror and by friends and admirers in all parts of the world.