Compassion - Queen Elizabeth Hospital - Edgbaston, Birmiingham, U.K. - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com

James Falconer Kirkup's 'Compassion' sculpture close to the Queen Elizabeth Hosptial in Edgbaston.

The sculpture is also known as ‘The Good Samaritan” as it is said to be based on the biblical parable (Luke 10:25- 37).

Two nude male figures are depicted in this sculpture. The clean shaven youth on the right is reclining whilst the older beard figure kneels on his right knee, with a bowel in his right hand, either of water or some other potion and supports the reclining youth with his left hand.

The base of the sculpture is inscribed with lines from the poem ‘A Correct Compassion’ by James Falconer Kirkup, which was dedicated to Mr Philip Allison after the poet watched Mr Allison perform a Mitral Stenosis Valvotomy operation in Leeds General Hospital
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The lines quoted are:
‘WITH PROPER GRACE
INFORMING A CORRECT COMPASSION, THAT PERFORMS
ITS LOVE AND MAKES IT LIVE.’
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The cast bronze sculpture, by Uli Nimptsch, was original located in a garden outside the Selly Hospital out-patients department in Birmingham. It was moved in 2014 to a position alongside a footpath between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston. The cost of moving the sculpture was covered by the Charles Henry Foyle Trust; the Trust which originally donated the sculpture to the Selly Oak Hospital.


The dedication of the sculpture on the supporting plinth is shown below:
‘*COMPASSION*
THIS STATUE WAS COMMISSIONED
AND PRESENTED TO
SELLY OAK HOSPITAL
BY THE
CHARLES HENRY FOYLE TRUST
ON THE SUGGESTION OF
ONE OF THE ORIGINAL TRUSTEES
THE LATE SIR ALBERT BRADBEER
1963’
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Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Compassion Figure Type: Human Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: James Falconer Kirkup Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 1963 Materials used: Bronze Location: Alongside a footpath between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of Birmingham

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/19/2019 Poole/Freeman visited it