Liverpool imports cattle and wool for food and clothing (panel on the façade of St. George's Hall, Liverpool)” by Conrad Dressler (1856-1940). 1882-1901. Istrian stone. This is a very different production from Dressler's other panel here (Liverpool, with its imports, supplies the country with food and corn) thanks to the rippling muscles of the man who has evidently just slain the ox in the bottom left-hand corner, with his knife now strategically placed across his bare buttocks. Liverpool looks away, focusing instead on the woolly lamb between her and the shepherd on the right. She holds a ball of wool in her raised hand.
The remainder of the National Prosperity series on Saint George's Hall
Terry Cavanagh entitles the series “National Prosperity” (261) and Benedict Read calls it “The Story of Liverpool” (331). These six panels are on the east façade of St George's Hall, to the right of the central portico. They were commissioned in 1895, and Conrad Dressler's two panels, which proved the most contentious, were finally installed in June 1901. Designed by three different sculptors, they lack the unity of concept of the "Progress of Justice" series, and are probably best judged individually.
- Liverpool, a municipality, employs Labour and encourages Art
- Liverpool collects produce and exports the manufactures of the country
- Liverpool, with its imports, supplies the country with food and corn
- Liverpool,” by her shipwrights, builds vessels of commerce
- Liverpool, a fishing village, gives her sons the boat and the net
Related Material
- Photograph (entitled Liverpool imports stock and animal products) in The Studio
- Thomas Stirling Lee's St. George's Hall bas reliefs (first of the series)
Photograph by Robert Freidus. text by Freidus and Jacqueline Banerjee. Perspective correction, formatting, and linking” by George P. Landow. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]
Bibliography
Cavanagh, Terry. The Public Sculpture of Liverpool. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1996.
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982.
Last modified 1 November 2015