jTHE DICKENSIAN
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Toch kreeg Dickens een standbeeld. Het staat in een park te Philadelphia en werd gemaakt
door Frank Edwin Elwell (1858-1922), een Amerikaanse beeldhouwer, die werkte in New
York en Parijs. E.S. Williamson berichtte in The Dickensian van 1907 over dit "statue of
Dickens and Little Nell":
STATUE OF DICKENS AND LITTLE NELL
By E. S. WILLIAMSON
(Of Toronto) i
j AMONG the art exhibits of America at the World's Fair, no par--
1 A ticular example attracted more popular interest than the sculp-
tured memorial to Charles Dickens, the work of Mr. F. Edwin Elwell,
of New Vork.
It is considered a thoroughly good portrait of the great author, in an
1 easy and graceful pose, his hand combing his beard, as was his habit,
as he sits absorbed in thought. On the base of the pedestal, affec
tionately gazing upward on the face of its creator, is Little Nell, the
best loved of all Dickens's characters.
Mr. Elwell has told of how he chanced to meet the original of his
D Little Nell. While modelling the figure in clay, he had attended an
entertainment at Chickering Mall, accompanied by Mrs. Elwell, and
had been struck by the sweet face of a girl in the audience. That is
i just the face and expression I want," he said to himself. As soon as
he returned home he lit the lamps in his studio, and, working all night,
i modelled from memory the face of his Little Nell. The next morning i
it was complete. Some two weeks afterward a lady wrote asking if she
L might visit his studio with a few friends. The request was granted,
i and, to the surprise of the artist, accompanying his visitors was the
i young girl who had been his inspiration. The surprise on the part of
1 the girl and her friends when they saw the statue was equally great,
i How like Susie!" they exclaimed. "It is Susie," said Mr. Elwell. A
few touches on the still damp clay and the likeness was complete.
It was whispered to the sculptor at the time that the gentle solicitude
which is the most characteristic expression of the figure had grown
upon Susie's face during her attendance upon her sick father. The
father was overjoyed to learn that his child was to be immortalized in
sculpture. It became his one ambition to gain strength enough to go
and see the work. I shall be strong enough to-morrow," he would
say, but just as in the story of Little Nell's grandfather, so in real life,
to-morrow and to-morrow crept on with petty pace," until there were
for him no more to-morrows. He died without seeing his child's face
in marble.
Mr. Elwell exhibited his memorial first at Philadelphia, where it
gained a gold medal, and then took it to England. There it was
icviewed and criticized by nearly all the leading people. The family
of D'ckens pronounced it an excellent portrait.
There was talk in England of popular subscriptions to buy the
memorial, and many discussions as to the site upon which it should
stand, but no such action could be taken by public contribution with
out doing violence to the emphatic wishes of Dickens himself as set
forth in his will.
The statue now stands in the public gardens of Philadelphia, and
is greatly valued and admired by the American people.
