. The lives of the British sculptors, and those who have worked in England from the earliest days to Sir Francis Chantrey. ava-gance of another ; and persons who care for none ofthese matters, find enough to admire in the difficultworkmanship of the marble skeleton. Mrs. Nightingale(she was of the noble house of Ferrers) is shown lyingon a couch, on the point of expiring, and beneath thiscouch, a half-opened door gives egress to Death, in theform of a skeleton, who aims a dart at his victim ; whilethe husband in an access of despair, interposes his armto ward off the blow. The idea was not imp
. The lives of the British sculptors, and those who have worked in England from the earliest days to Sir Francis Chantrey. ava-gance of another ; and persons who care for none ofthese matters, find enough to admire in the difficultworkmanship of the marble skeleton. Mrs. Nightingale(she was of the noble house of Ferrers) is shown lyingon a couch, on the point of expiring, and beneath thiscouch, a half-opened door gives egress to Death, in theform of a skeleton, who aims a dart at his victim ; whilethe husband in an access of despair, interposes his armto ward off the blow. The idea was not improbablyborrowed by Roubiliac from Rene Michel Slodtzssomewhat similar production in the Church of , at Paris, executed in 1750, although, as hasbeen pointed out, there was no reason why he shouldhave done so, as the idea itself is old enough, althoughits application in this way seems certainly to have beenhitherto confined to Slodtz. As, too, there is no record ofRoubiliac having visited Paris at this time,* and in those days * The date of the ladys death, on the monument, is 1734, but it tookplace in MONUMENT TONIGHTINGALEBy Roubiliac LADY ELIZABETH ROUBILIAC 119 such an excursion was one which, had it occurred, wouldhave been recorded, it does not seem that the sculptorcould, in any case, have actually examined Slodtzs work. While engaged in superintending the erection of theNightingale monument, Roubiliac was one day foundby Gayfere, the Abbey mason, who used to relate thecircumstance, standing spell-bound and in an ecstasyof admiration before one of the splendid figures whichsupport the canopy over the recumbent figure of SirFrancis Vere ; as the mason approached Roubiliaclaid his restraining hand on his arm and, pointing to thestatue, exclaimed, Hush ! he will speak soon. Thiswas characteristic of the sculptor, whose eyes would rollin a fine frenzy at the sight of some unusually lifelikepiece of work. In a lesser man such characteristicsmight be regarded a
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