Grinling Gibbons, an artist working to commission, relied on Patronage.
The Rustat memorial is one of many being discussed with the benefit of knowledge and current understanding.
The Public Statues and Sculpture Association provides a forum for discussion on this and many other concerns.
The Public Statues and Sculpture Association (PSSA) encourages engagement with the many thousands of sculptures in the public domain across the UK, which represent an important part of our shared cultural heritage. It champions the historical, artistic and social context of public statues and sculpture, and also promotes education about sculpture, publishing articles, academic papers and specialist books. We encourage new members. Please see our website: pssauk.org We are concerned about contested heritage, as illustrated in the current controversy about the monument to Tobias Rustat at Jesus College Cambridge. Our view on such sculptures is that they should be retained and explained, rather than taken away.
Photograph © Maud Giibbins.