Secret Dorset: Family links twin statues cast 100 years apart

BBC News

07-06-2025

Every day, in London's Piccadilly Circus, thousands of people pass a world-famous statue of a winged god, toppling forward after firing an arrow from his bow.Although widely known as Eros, the statue, which tops the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, actually represents Anteros - Eros's brother in Greek mythology.It was erected in 1893 to commemorate the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, a politician credited with improving the lives of Victorian children.About 100 miles (161km) away, at the family's estate in Dorset, an identical - but much lesser known - Anteros points back towards its likeness in London.
Radio Solent's Steve Harris went to St Giles House in Wimborne to see it and find out more about its origins.
"It's mistaken for Eros because he's a winged god with an arrow, but Eros is representing love and passion and romance," said Nick Ashley-Cooper, the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury."Aphrodite realised he was uncontrolled and wild so Anteros, who was Eros's brother, was the balancing force."It's a really beautiful statue."Sculptor Sir Alfred Gilbert was commissioned to create the statue in honour of Lord Shaftesbury's Victorian ancestor, who was known for his work to restrict child labour and replace it with school.The original statue has been removed multiple times for repairs and the entire fountain has even been repositioned.
Metallurgist Simon Clarke, from Eastleigh in Hampshire, was involved in its restoration in the 1990s, when it was fractured by a football fan swinging on its leg.He said: "It was the first major aluminium sculpture back in the 1890s so it's quite unusual."When Gilbert was commissioned to produce the sculpture, aluminium could not be mass produced. It was like a semi-precious metal."Gilbert decided he wanted a light statue - all the Victorian statues around London were dark, cast in bronze or iron. "He wanted something that would stand out."
In the 1980s, the Fine Art Society created a set of 10 replicas of Anteros."This is number 10," said Lord Shaftesbury at the family's Dorset estate."There was no assumption that one would come here. "At that time, St Giles was in a period of abandonment and falling down."Someone involved knew this one needed a home so we were put in touch. "To have such a proud family memorial was an amazing opportunity."
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