The statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus is one of the
best-known “sights of London”, especially since it ceased to be in the middle
of a roundabout at one of the capital’s busiest junctions. It has several
features of interest that relate to its construction and significance.
A memorial to a remarkable man
The statue is part of a memorial to the 7th Earl
of Shaftesbury (1801-85) who worked to improve conditions for children who
worked in factories and mines. Shaftesbury Avenue, which is one of the streets
that leads into Piccadilly Circus, was also named in his honour.
Anthony Ashley Cooper came from a highly privileged
background but was horrified when he discovered the conditions under which some
of the poorest people in Victorian England were forced to earn a living. He was
particularly concerned with the plight of children, some as young as seven or
eight, who were forced to work for long hours in unsafe and insanitary
conditions in mines and factories.
It seems incredible to us today that he faced strong
opposition to his proposal to limit the working day of children aged nine (and
up to 13) to only ten hours, but that was the case. Eventually he won through,
and he also instigated major reforms in education for the poor and in provision
for people with severe mental illnesses.
The statue of Eros
The statue dates from 1893 and was the work of Sir Alfred
Gilbert. He used as his model a 16-year old boy who was his studio assistant.
Oddly enough, the statue is not really “Eros” at all. The
image of a winged boy armed with a bow and arrow, who makes people fall in love
when an arrow finds its mark, is a familiar one from works of art going back to
classical times. However, the statue in Piccadilly Circus was intended to
portray the “Angel of Christian Charity”.
Sir Alfred had already created a statue of Anteros, who is
Eros’s twin brother in Greek myth, and he simply made another Anteros when
asked to produce a suitable memorial to Lord Shaftesbury. Anteros, as the god
of selfless love, was a far more suitable image to commemorate a man who
displayed that sentiment so openly, but in the public mind the statue was
always that of Eros, the much less appropriate god of physical love!
The name Eros is the root of “erotic”, and there is a
strange coincidence in that this district of London has long been associated
with love of a much earthier kind than is commemorated by the memorial. Only a
few yards away are the remnants of London’s former red light district, with its
still existing peepshows, massage parlours and other such entertainments.
Sir Alfred may also have had in mind a pun on Lord
Shaftesbury’s name, given that the figure is seen “burying a shaft”. Needless to say, this supposed meaning has
nothing at all to do with the origin of the name of the town in Dorset from
which the family took its title.
A novel feature of the statue is that it was cast in
aluminium (the first public memorial ever to have been made from this material)
and is thus very light in weight. Despite being seven feet tall it could be
carried around Sir Alfred’s studio by one person.
The lightness of the statue is one reason why it can be
displayed as it is. It stands atop an elaborate fountain, supported on the ball
of one foot with the other leg extending in one direction and the bow arm in
the other, and the two huge wings stretching upwards and outwards. Had the
statue been cast in bronze it is doubtful if Eros’s ankle could have stood the
strain of wind and weather for more than a century.
That said, the statue did require repair in 1993 after a
drunken reveller climbed up the fountain on New Year’s Eve and swung from the
outstretched leg!
© John Welford
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