SIR GEORGE GREY'S STATUE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 51, 1 March 1901, Page 2

SIR GEORGE GREY'S STATUE.

Mr Williamson has completed Ills clay model of the statue of Kir George Grey that is to be erected at Auckland. " At his invitation I accompanied Mr and. Mrs Reeves on Wednesday on their flying- visit of inspection to the sculptor's .studio at JEsher. Mr Williamson has figured Sir George Grey as if lie were addressing a meeting of Maoris in connection with a treaty. The "good Governor" standing with hi* right j ef r slightly advanced is in the ordinary frock coat of civilian garb, above which he wears an overcoat thrown open; his right arm is akimbo, his left stretched at his side holds a scroll. Behind him is a curved Maori post, which gives local colour, and at the same time serves as a support for the figure. To those who, like myself, only knew the great pro-consul during his later years', the features at first sight do not present that familiarity which they no doubt would do to New Zealanders who remember him in his fifties, the age represented in tlie statue. However, the resemblance gradually grows upon one, and the three-quarter view especially awakens memories of the pro-consul's lineaments. While people will not he likely to say at once, "What a striking "likeness," the longer they let their gaze dwell upon the statue, the better, i am inclined to think, they will pronounce it. Considering the meagre and poor photographs that were all which Mr Williamson had to work upon, I think the verdict in New Zealand will be that he has produced a very satisfactory counterfeit presentment, The photographs taken in London of Sir George Grey in his decrepitude, shrunken and shrivelled, were worse than useless, and, as was admitted by all of us at once, could only give the sculptor a false impression of the strong, daring man whose effigy he was to fashion. There is perhaps lacking in the face of Mr Williamson's model that touch of mysticism without which no likeness of Sir George would be quite complete, and which Mr Onslow Ford has managed to put into his fine bust for St. Paul's, but oji the whole Mr Williamson's statue will give the inhabitants of the K.Z. Corinth a very fair idea of the man in his habit as he Jived. Mr Reeves- made a coupJe of suggestions as to the shortening oji the nose a trifle, and the making the face a little squarer and less round, and Mrs Reeves expressed the view that the eyebrows might be a little shaggier and more developed, hints upon which Mr Williamson immediately acted with a distinct improvement to Ihe likenesg.

Mr Williamson has also modelled four pedestals each bearingl the statue, which .will be sent out shortly to the memorial committee in Auckland, together with the model of the statue, to enable them to make a selection. The statue will stand about 9 feet high, mid; the pedestal about 17, so that the total height of the monument will be about 36 feet. The shape of the four pedestals is very much the same, and they differ

chiefly In the treatment of the large square block of stone which surmounts three steps. One pedestal is quite plain, another has a panel in front and two allegorical figures, one :i1 each side, a third has four allegorical figures, one at each corner, representing .Justice, Charity, Truth, and Religion or other virtues, while the fourth, which is perhaps more graceful and slender than the rest, has panels on its four sides. I would put in a plea for a simple pedestal and inscription. The Drake statue at Plymouth with its pedestal unadorned save by the single word "Drake," presents a grand and dignified appearance, and a great man like Grey needs no inscription of fulsome flattery and no allegorical groups of abstract virtues surrounding' his siatue to keep his fame alive in the land where he is honoured as soldier, scholar, and statesman. The greater the man, the simpler should be his monument.