Christ Child | |
---|---|
Year | 1999 |
Type | Sculpture |
Medium | Portland stone |
Subject | Jesus |
Location | London, WC2 United Kingdom |
51°30′32″N0°07′37″W / 51.508845°N 0.127009°W |
Christ Child, also known as In the Beginning or the Millennium Sculpture, [1] is an outdoor sculpture by Michael "Mike" Chapman, located under the portico of St Martins-in-the-Fields at Trafalgar Square in London, United Kingdom. The opening text from the Gospel of John is inscribed around the sculpture: "In the beginning was the word and the word became flesh and lived among us". [1] Chapman has said of the sculpture: "For the millennium I was commissioned to produce a sculpture to be placed in Trafalgar square, during Christmas prior to the celebrations. It seemed to me that a tiny life-size baby carved from stone in such an enormous environment would be the best way to remind us all of just whose birthday we were celebrating. In a 4.5-tonne (4.4-long-ton; 5.0-short-ton) block of Portland stone, this work can be found at the entrance to the church." [2] It has been called "strikingly modern". [3]
Charing Cross is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. Clockwise from north, the routes that meet at Charing Cross are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; Northumberland Avenue leading to the Thames Embankment; Whitehall leading to Parliament Square; The Mall leading to Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace; and two short roads leading to Pall Mall.
Trafalgar Square is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, established in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. The square's name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars over France and Spain that took place on 21 October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar.
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi.
Sir Jacob Epstein was an American and British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval period. This location, at that time, was farmlands and fields beyond the London wall.
Events from the year 1999 in art.
Events from the year 1993 in art.
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Josefina Alys Hermes de Vasconcellos was an English sculptor who worked in bronze, stone, wood, lead and perspex. She was at one time the world's oldest living sculptor. She lived in Little Langdale, Cumbria, much of her working life. Her most famous work includes Reconciliation ; Holy Family ; Mary and Child ; and Nativity at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
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Mark Humphrey is an English interior designer and installation artist.
Frank Martin was a British sculptor. He was head of the sculpture department of Saint Martin's School of Art from 1952 to 1979. He brought young and forward-thinking sculptors into the department to teach, among them Anthony Caro, Robert Clatworthy, Elisabeth Frink and Eduardo Paolozzi. They and those round them came to be known as the New Generation of British sculptors. In the 1960s and 1970s the sculpture department at Saint Martin's was, in the words of Tim Scott: "the most famous in the art world".
The statue of the Earl Kitchener is an outdoor bronze statue by John Tweed depicting Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, installed in 1926 and located on the south side of Horse Guards Parade in London, United Kingdom. The sculpture stands on a Portland stone plinth. It became a Grade II listed building in 1970.
A Conversation with Oscar Wilde is an outdoor sculpture by Maggi Hambling on Adelaide Street in central London dedicated to Oscar Wilde. Unveiled in 1998, it takes the form of a bench-like green granite sarcophagus, with a bust of Wilde emerging from the upper end, with a hand clasping a cigarette.
The Edith Cavell Memorial is an outdoor memorial to Edith Cavell by Sir George Frampton, in London, United Kingdom. The memorial is sited in St Martin's Place, beside the A400, just outside the northeast corner of Trafalgar Square, north of St Martin-in-the-Fields, east of the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, and south of the London Coliseum. The site is adjacent to the first headquarters of the British Red Cross, originally located at 7 St Martin's Place.