How you can use this image

This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (CC BY-NC).

This image can be reproduced in any way apart from any commercial uses.

Wherever you reproduce the image or an altered version of it, you must attribute the original creators (acknowledge the original artist(s), the person/organisation that took the photograph of the work) and any other stated rights holders.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find more images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Download

More information

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

Alfred Gilbert's fountain was built to commemorate the philanthropist and social reformer Anthony Ashley Cooper (1801–1885), 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. The monument is a bronze octagonal fountain on a stepped platform, surmounted by a winged archer in aluminium representing the Angel of Christian Charity. Gilbert wrote of ‘blindfolded Love sending forth indiscriminately, yet with purpose, his missile of kindness, always with the swiftness the bird has from its wings’. The angel is popularly identified as Eros and was the first London statue to be cast in aluminium.

Title

Eros – Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain

Date

1892–1893

Medium

bronze & aluminium

Measurements

H 1097 x W 518 x D 518 cm

Accession number

W1J_CRH_S189

Acquisition method

erected by public subscription

Work type

Water fountain, trough or pump

Owner

Westminster City Council

Custodian

Westminster City Council

Work status

extant

Listing status

Grade I (England and Wales)

Unveiling date

29th June 1893

Listing date

24/02/58

Access

at all times

Inscription description

plaque 1: ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION TO; plaque 2: ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER K.G; plaque 3: SEVENTH EARL OF SHAFTESBURY; plaque 4: BORN APRIL XXVII MDCCCI / DIED OCTOBER I. MDCCCLXXX; plaque 5: DURING A PUBLIC LIFE OF HALF A CENTURY / HE DEVOTED THE INFLUENCE OF HIS STATION; plaque 6: THE STRONG SYMPATHIES OF HIS HEART / AND THE GREAT POWERS OF HIS MIND; plaque 7: TO HONOURING GOD BY SERVING HIS FELLOW MEN / AN EXAMPLE TO HIS ORDER A BLESSING TO THIS PEOPLE.; plaque 8: AND A NAME TO BE BY THEM/ EVER GRATEFULLY REMEMBERED; additional plaque: EROS / 29 June 1993 / One Hundred Years / In / Piccadilly Circus / (1893 -1993) / City of Westminster

Read less

Piccadilly Circus, Westminster

W1J 9HT

Located at the southeastern side of Piccadilly Circus.

Artist or maker

Alfred Gilbert

1854–1934

View profile

Comedy and Tragedy: 'Sic Vita' Pollok House
Perseus Arming Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Perseus Arming Pollok House
Athene with Female Figures* Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Model for Sculpture of a Nude Female Figure Leighton House Museum
Model for Sculpture of Female Child Leighton House Museum
Post Equitem Sedet Atra Cura (Behind the Rider Sits Dark Care) Victoria and Albert Museum
137 more