Ariel and Prospero - Langham Place, London, UK
N 51° 31.089 W 000° 08.613
30U E 698176 N 5711316
The statue of Ariel and Prospero is situated over the front entrance to Broadcasting House in London. The sculpture, by Eric Gill, stands ten feet (three metres) tall.
Waymark Code: WMM0QA
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/28/2014
Views: 4
The BBC website tells us:
Over the front entrance of Broadcasting House stand the statues of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's last play The Tempest), by Eric Gill. Prospero, Ariel's master, stands 10ft tall and is depicted sending Ariel out into the world. Ariel, as the spirit of the air, was felt to be an appropriate symbol for the new mystery of broadcasting. After Broadcasting House was opened and the statues were installed (1933), concern was voiced about the size of the sprite’s genitalia. A question was tabled in the House of Commons, but the popular story, that Gill was ordered to modify the statue, is not substantiated.
Wikipedia also tells us:
The building showcases works of art, most prominently the statues of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's The Tempest) by Eric Gill. Their choice was fitting since Prospero was a magician and scholar, and Ariel a spirit of the air, in which radio waves travel. There was, reportedly, controversy over some features of the statues when built and they were said to have been modified. They were reported to have been sculpted by Gill as God and Man, rather than Prospero and Ariel, and that there is a small carved picture of a beautiful girl on the back of Prospero. Additional carvings of Ariel are on the exterior in many bas-reliefs, some by Gill, others by Gilbert Bayes.
The play "The Tempest", by William Shakespeare has appeared on stage, in the cinema and on TV.
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