Isaac Watts' picture appeal

Do you have photo of Dr Issac Watts' lost right hand? Ideally a close up of the hand and lower sleeve, but a distance shot in good light would also be helpful!

The picture is to help ensure the replacement is as accurate as possible and you may help reveal further detail than pictures and engravings already held. Replacing the hand is important because it was with this hand that Watts' created such a prolific amount of work during his lifetime.

Volunteers working on the project also felt that a statue by such an important sculptor as Edward Hodges Baily RA FRS, should be restored in full. Baily sculpted Nelson's statue on the column in Trafalgar Square some 5 years before sculpting Watts, and undertook various commissions for the Royal Family amongst other notable works.

This appeal follows the successful campaign to raise £9,000 to restore the Grade II listed monument. As a listed monument it needs prior planning approval for the work, plus the right weather conditions to seal joints with lime mortar on the Portland stone statue and plinth. Volunteers have been working to provide all the documents and commissioning the work itself, including restoring the railings and surround. The plan is then to undertake the work this Summer.

Please send any pictures to info@abneypark.org or drop them into the Visitor's Centre near the main entrance (with contact details to have pictures returned).

To find out more about the Isaac Watts project, please visit our Projects page.

Find out more about Isaac Watts and Edward Hodges Bailey here.