24 November 2021
New Plinth for Laurence Sterne
Rounding the corner in the Garden Room at Shandy Hall, one comes face to face with Laurence Sterne, or the nearest likeness to him that we have. The marble bust, sculpted by Joseph Nollekens, had for too long been standing on an unworthy support. Earlier this year, stone-carver Peter Coates, who has worked with the Laurence Sterne Trust on a number of projects, created a new plinth using Frosterley marble. The plinth design is reminiscent of the fluting on a roman column; of the spines of books; and magnificently, in view of Sterne’s close association with them, in section it is an asterisk (viz *).
More on this to follow.