The Greek Slave by Hiram Powers

Photo: The Greek Slave (1851), marble sculpture by American sculptor Hiram Powers, 165.7 cm x 53.3 cm x 46.4 cm, located at Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut.

The original of the marble statue ‘The Greek Slave’, the most famous and most popular work of the American sculptor Hiram Powers is in Raby Castle, situated near Staindrop in County Durham, one of the largest inhabited castles in England. The statue was carved in Florence in 1844. Critics claim that the design of the statue was based on the ‘Venus de' Medici’ in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Powers himself described his work, “The Slave has been taken from one of the Greek Islands by the Turks, in the time of the Greek Revolution; the history of which is familiar to all. Her father and mother, and perhaps all her kindred, have been destroyed by her foes, and she alone preserved as a treasure too valuable to be thrown away. She is now among barbarian strangers, under the pressure of a full recollection of the calamitous events which have brought her to her present state; and she stands exposed to the gaze of the people she abhors, and awaits her fate with intense anxiety, tempered indeed by the support of her reliance upon the goodness of God. Gather all these afflictions together, and add to them the fortitude and resignation of a Christian, and no room will be left for shame.”

Hiram Powers made replicas of the original Greek Slave for sale to collectors, such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Vermont State House, and Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Statue of Lady Godiva by William Reid Dick

Statue of Lady Godiva on a horse, by Scottish sculptor William Reid Dick (1879-1961) in Broadgate, Coventry, England, unveiled on 22 October 1949.

Lady Godiva by John Collier

Image: Lady Godiva (1898) by British artist John Maler Collier (1850-1934).

The Anglo-Saxon noblewoman Lady Godiva (1040-1080) rode naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry in England in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants, according to legends. Her legend, ever since, has inspired several hundreds of paintings, sculptures, books, films and other cultural aspects.

In the Tepidarium by John William Godward

In the Tepidarium (1913) by English painter John William Godward (1861-1922) from the end of the Pre-Raphaelite/ Victorian Neoclassicism era, oil on canvas, size 38.78 x 19.09 inches (98.5 cm x 48.5 cm), private collection.

Portrait of Margaret Woffington by Jean-Baptiste van Loo

Image: Margaret Woffington (1738) oil on canvas portrait painting by French portrait painter Jean-Baptiste van Loo, dimensions 111 cm x 88 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, England.

Actress Margaret Woffington (1718-1760), popularly known as ‘Peg’, enjoyed a lively and unconventional life, and she was one of the most famous actors of her times. Various artists are known to have painted her. This portrait is not signed, but because of the delicate treatment of the flesh tones and the sensitive rendering of the costume, critics justify the attribution to French portrait painter Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684-1745).

Venus and Cupid by Peter Lely

Image: Portrait of a lady and child as Venus and Cupid, oil on canvas, 124 cm x 157 cm, painted by Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), a painter of Dutch origin, whose career life was mostly spent in England, where he was the dominant portrait painter to the court.

The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin in London

Photo: The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin, in Victoria Tower Gardens, London, England.

Under the French law no more than twelve casts of this piece were permitted after Rodin’s death. The London casting, purchased by the British Government in 1911, is one of them.

Les Bourgeois de Calais (1889) is one of the most famous sculptures by the French Sculptor Auguste Rodin. It serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, the major French port on the English Channel, was under siege by the British for over a year. England's Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais, while Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege, and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender.

Mars and Venus by François Boucher

Image: Mars and Venus, 18th century oil on canvas painting by Francois Boucher, currently in Wallace Collection, London

The Lament For Icarus, by Herbert Draper

The Lament For Icarus, painting by British painter Herbert Draper

The Water Nymph by Draper

The Water Nymph by British painter Herbert James Draper (1863-1920)

The Kelpie by Herbert James Draper

The Kelpie (1913) painting by British painter Herbert James Draper (1863-1920)

Clyties of the Mist by Draper

Clyties of the Mist (1912) painting by British painter Herbert James Draper.

Flying Fish by Herbert James Draper

Image: Image: Flying Fish (1910) by Herbert James Draper, oil on canvas, 94 cm x 61 cm

Lamia by Herbert Draper

Image: Lamia (1909) painting by English painter of the Victorian era, Herbert James Draper (1863-1920), oil on canvas, size: 127 cm x 69 cm

Romeo and Juliet, painting by Frank Dicksee

Photo: ‘Romeo and Juliet’, 1884 painting depicting love, by English Victorian painter and illustrator Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee.

English Victorian painter and illustrator Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee (1853-1928), best known for his pictures of dramatic, historical and legendary scenes, also was a noted painter of portraits of fashionable women. Many of Dicksee's paintings are considered Pre-Raphaelite in style.

Bhaktivedanta Manor - ISKCON Temple

Bhaktivedanta Manor, a Gaudiya Vaishnava temple in the Hertfordshire countryside of England in the village of Aldenham near Watford, is owned and run by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness or the Hare Krishna movement). Standing in 70 acres (280,000 squire meters), it is one of the most visited Radha-Krishna temples in Europe. The late Beatles musician George Harrison gave the Manor as an offering of devotion to the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Prabhupada renamed the property as Bhaktivedanta Manor.