The Sleeping Children
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The Sleeping Children
''The Sleeping Children'' is a marble sculpture by Francis Chantrey. The statue depicts Ellen-Jane and Marianne Robinson asleep in each other's arms on a bed. The statue was commissioned by the mother of the two children, also named Ellen-Jane Robinson, whose daughters had died in 1813 and 1814. The statue was placed in the south east corner of Lichfield Cathedral in 1817 where it remains today. The work is considered to be one of Chantrey's finest works and one of the greatest works of English sculpture during the period. Subject The sculpture depicts the two daughters of Ellen-Jane Robinson (née Woodhouse) lying asleep on a bed in each other's arms. The tragic story depicted by the sculpture begins in 1812 when Ellen-Jane's husband, the clergyman Reverend William Robinson, who had recently become a prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral, contracted tuberculosis and died. Reverend William Robinson was in his thirties at the time of his death and left his wife with their two daugh ...
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Marble Sculpture
Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface before refracting it in subsurface scattering. This gives an attractive soft appearance that is especially good for representing human skin, which can also be polished. Of the many different types of marble the pure white ones are generally used for sculpture, with coloured ones preferred for many architectural and decorative uses. The degree of hardness is right to carve without too much difficulty, but still give a very durable result, if not exposed to acid rain or seawater. Famous individual types and quarries include from classical times Parian marble from Paros, used for the ''Venus de Milo'' and many other Ancient Greek sculptures, and Pentelic marble, from near Athens, used for most of the Parthenon sculptures, and by the Roma ...
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Francis Leggatt Chantrey
Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable works include the statues of King George IV (Trafalgar Square); King George III (Guildhall), and George Washington (Massachusetts State House). He also executed four monuments to military heroes for St Paul's Cathedral, London. He left the ''Chantrey Bequest'' (or ''Chantrey Fund'') for the purchase of works of art for the nation, which was available from 1878 after the death of his widow. Life Chantrey was born at Jordanthorpe near Norton (then a Derbyshire village, now a suburb of Sheffield), where his family had a small farm. His father, who also dabbled in carpentry and wood-carving, died when Francis was twelve; and his mother remarried, leaving him without a clear career to follow. At fifteen, he was working for a grocer in Sheffiel ...
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Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of Burton Upon Trent. At the time of the 2011 Census, the population was estimated at 32,219 and the wider Lichfield District at 100,700. Notable for its three-spired medieval cathedral, Lichfield was the birthplace of Samuel Johnson, the writer of the first authoritative ''Dictionary of the English Language''. The city's recorded history began when Chad of Mercia arrived to establish his Bishopric in 669 AD and the settlement grew as the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia. In 2009, the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork, was found south-west of Lichfield. The development of the city was consolidated in the 12th century under Roger de Clinton, who fortified the Cathedral Close and also laid ou ...
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Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medieval one of the three. It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Lichfield, which covers Staffordshire, much of Shropshire, and parts of the Black Country and West Midlands. It is the seat of the Bishop of Lichfield, currently Michael Ipgrave, who was appointed in 2016. It is a Grade I listed building. Overview The cathedral is dedicated to St Chad and Saint Mary. Its internal length is , and the breadth of the nave is . The central spire is high and the western spires are about . The stone is sandstone and came from a quarry on the south side of Lichfield. The walls of the nave lean outwards slightly, due to the weight of stone used in the ceiling vaulting; some 200–300 tons of which was removed during renovation work to prevent the walls ...
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Marble Sculpture
Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface before refracting it in subsurface scattering. This gives an attractive soft appearance that is especially good for representing human skin, which can also be polished. Of the many different types of marble the pure white ones are generally used for sculpture, with coloured ones preferred for many architectural and decorative uses. The degree of hardness is right to carve without too much difficulty, but still give a very durable result, if not exposed to acid rain or seawater. Famous individual types and quarries include from classical times Parian marble from Paros, used for the ''Venus de Milo'' and many other Ancient Greek sculptures, and Pentelic marble, from near Athens, used for most of the Parthenon sculptures, and by the Roma ...
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Prebendary
A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir stalls, known as prebendal stalls. History At the time of the ''Domesday Book'' in 1086, the canons and dignitaries of the cathedrals of England were supported by the produce and other profits from the cathedral estates.. In the early 12th century, the endowed prebend was developed as an institution, in possession of which a cathedral official had a fixed and independent income. This made the cathedral canons independent of the bishop, and created posts that attracted the younger sons of the nobility. Part of the endowment was retained in a common fund, known in Latin as ''communia'', which was used to provide bread and money to a canon in residence in addition to the income from his prebend. Most prebends disappeared in 1547, ...
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Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in which case it is known as latent tuberculosis. Around 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kill about half of those affected. Typical symptoms of active TB are chronic cough with blood-containing mucus, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. It was historically referred to as consumption due to the weight loss associated with the disease. Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms. Tuberculosis is spread from one person to the next through the air when people who have active TB in their lungs cough, spit, speak, or sneeze. People with Latent TB do not spread the disease. Active infection occurs more often in people with HIV/AIDS and in those who smoke. Diagnosis of active TB is ...
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Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, west of London and southeast of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the "Great Spa Towns of Europe" in 2021. Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset. The city became a spa with the Latin name ' ("the waters of Sulis") 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre; the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town in the Georgian era. ...
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London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ...
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Thomas Banks (sculptor)
Thomas Banks (29 December 1735 – 2 February 1805) was an important 18th-century English sculptor. Life The son of William Banks, a surveyor who was land steward to the Duke of Beaufort, he was born in London. He was educated at Ross-on-Wye. Banks was taught drawing by his father, and from 1750 to 1756 was apprenticed to a woodcarver, William Barlow, in London. In his spare time he worked at sculpture, spending his evenings in the studio of the Flemish émigré sculptor Peter Scheemakers. During this period he is known to have worked for the architect William Kent. Before 1772, when he obtained a travelling studentship given by the Royal Academy and proceeded to Rome, he had already exhibited several fine works. Returning to England in 1779 Banks found that the taste for classical poetry, long the source of his inspiration, no longer existed, and he spent two years in Saint Petersburg, being employed by Catherine the Great, who purchased his ''Cupid Tormenting a Butterfly''. ...
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St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne
St Oswald's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, Ashbourne, in the county of Derbyshire, England. Background The church is named after Oswald of Northumbria. A brass plaque in the chapel on the south side of the church commemorates its dedication on 24 April 1241 by Hugh de Pateshull, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. Architecturally, it dominates the small town with its 212-foot spire which was referred to by George Eliot as the "finest single spire in England". It is said to have been started in 1240 by Bishop Hugh de Pateshull. Construction probably lasted until the early 14th century. It replaced an earlier Saxon church, and possibly a second Norman one. (A Norman crypt was discovered during excavations in 1913.) From 1837 to 1840, it was Victorian restoration, restored by Lewis Nockalls Cottingham, and then in the 1870s by George Gilbert Scott, who added the battlements to the chancel. Until Ashbourne Hall was partially demolish ...
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Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet
Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet (3 June 174423 January 1824) was a British linguist, translator, poet and landowner, based in Derbyshire, England. He was part of the intellectual and literary circle of Lichfield, which included Anna Seward and Erasmus Darwin. In 1766 he welcomed the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Ashbourne circles, after Rousseau's short stay in London with Hume. Ten years later, in 1776, Boothby visited Rousseau in Paris, and was given the manuscript of the first part of Rousseau's three-part autobiographic '' Confessions''. Boothby translated the manuscript and published it in Lichfield in 1780 after the author's death, and donated the document to the British Library in 1781. The well-known portrait of Boothby by Joseph Wright of Derby, from 1781, shows him reclining in a wooded glade with a book carrying on its cover simply the name Rousseau, indicating Boothby's admiration and promotion of the writer and his work generally. Several portraits were also ...
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