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Notes

Spandrels over the first floor Palladian windows. The figures are all kneeling or seated on the ground; all have floral backgrounds. Unlike the Belvoir Street spandrels, only those in the central bay of the Granby Street frontage have identifying inscriptions. The Granby Street spandrels are as follows: lefthand bay, lefthand spandrel - an old woman, a veil over her head, cutting a thread with shears; righthand spandrel, a young woman with her right hand raised above her shoulder adjusting her mantle, at her right elbow a burning oil lamp; central bay, lefthand spandrel - Calliope, Muse of epic poetry, reading from a book held in her left hand, the cover of the book inscribed with the word POEMS, resting her right wrist on a book standing on a pile of three other books and holding in her right hand a laurel wreath; righthand spandrel - Polyhymnia, Muse of sacred music, a veil over her face, a crown on her head, holding a sceptre in her left hand and resting her face against her right hand, the index finger extended upwards; righthand bay, lefthand spandrel - a woman at a spinning wheel; righthand spandrel - a woman resting her left hand on a globe, her left arm raised behind her head. The lefthand spandrel of the lefthand bay and the lefthand spandrel of the righthand bay may represent two of the three Fates of Greek and Roman mythology. The former is possibly Atropos, who cuts the thread of life with her shears, and the latter, Clotho, who spins the thread of life on her spinning wheel. (Lachesis, who measures the thread cannot be associated with either of the two remaining spandrels.) (2) The remaining two spandrels are problematic. The righthand spandrel of the bay at the extreme left of the frontage - the female figure with a lamp - may represent Learning or Wisdom. The righthand spandrel of the bay at the extreme right of the frontage - the female figure with a globe - may by Urania, Muse of Astronomy, the only one of the nine Muses not represented in the spandrels. She should, however, like the niche figure identified as Urania, also hold a pair of compasses.

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

spandrel relief

Burmantofts terracotta

each spandrel: h. 91.5 cm; w. 107 cm (est.)

Accretions

the surfaces are somewhat grimy