Isn’t it peculiar? The Dickens and Little Nell statue stands here in Philadelphia. It does not stand in London. The statue almost wasn’t here at all.
Let’s explore how this tribute to Charles Dickens and Little Nell Trent found its unlikely home. The Dickens and Little Nell statue is a bronze sculpture. Francis Edwin Elwell created it. It graces Clark Park.
In 1890, Stilson Hutchins commissioned the sculpture. Hutchins founded The Washington Post. He wanted it in London. But he backed out of the deal. Elwell completed the work anyway. The Bureau Brothers Foundry in Philadelphia cast it.
Elwell shipped Dickens and Little Nell to London hoping to sell it. Dickens’s will actually forbade memorials. It stated he rested his claims to remembrance on his published works.
Elwell brought the sculpture back to America. It won two gold medals at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Still, it lacked a buyer. The statue landed in a Philadelphia warehouse.
In 1900, the Fairmount Park Art Association bought the Dickens and Little Nell statue. They paid $7,500. This is about $274,680 today. George G. Pierele pushed for its placement in Clark Park. Clarence H. Clark was a member of the art association’s committee. He may have influenced the decision.
The Dickens and Little Nell statue was placed on a temporary pedestal in 1901. A permanent Woodstock granite pedestal was installed in 1902. W.R. Martin of Philadelphia made it.
There were requests to move the Dickens and Little Nell statue to a more prominent location. The association rebuffed these requests. By 1911, the statue was listed as one of the city’s notable artworks in the Encyclopdia Britannica.
Lorado Taft praised the Dickens and Little Nell statue. He said it makes an emotional appeal. He noted Little Nell enhances the effect of Dickens.
In 1989, vandals damaged the Dickens and Little Nell statue. The Friends of Clark Park raised funds for its restoration.
There are only two other statues of Charles Dickens. One is in Portsmouth, England. This is his birth city. The other is in Sydney, Australia.
Every February, Dickens’s birthday is celebrated here. It includes Morris dancing and Victorian-era desserts. Passages from his books are read. The Dickens and Little Nell statue remains a beloved landmark. It is a testament to art and literature. It stands here in Philadelphia, a city that embraced Dickens.