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Virtues - Sixth Sense

Erection date: 25/11/1952

Edith Sitwell reads a book while blithely crossing a chasm on a bridge made of a single branch. She is being met by two of the four winds and a dachshund-like creature with a forked tongue. A raven swoops in, ready to fly away with the book.

Her sixth sense is possibly how she is safely negotiating the crossing, but the rest of the symbolism escapes us.

Site: National Gallery - Anrep mosaics - Virtues (15 memorials)

WC2, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery - Staircase Hall - North Vestibule

See National Gallery - Anrep mosaics - Muses for general information about these mosaic floors.

The 1954 'Modern Virtues' is in a style very different from that of the earlier 'Muses' floor, with scenes depicted inside frames which carry each scene’s title. These panels appear to be laid on a mosaic floor with a geometric pattern, on which autumnal leaves have fallen – trompe l'oeil in mosaic.

This 'Modern Virtues' floor was gifted (which we take to mean funded) by Maud Russell and opened on 25 November 1952.

To avoid database clutter we have put the Creator links on just the page for the Anrep panel.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Virtues - Sixth Sense

Subjects commemorated i

Dame Edith Sitwell

Poet and biographer. Born at Scarborough into the aristocracy. 6-foot tall,...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Virtues - Sixth Sense

Also at this site i

Virtues - Anrep

Virtues - Anrep

Carved at the top of the gravestone is a portrait of Anrep himself. The image...

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Virtues - Compassion

Virtues - Compassion

Anna Akhmatova, looking towards Anrep's gravestone (in another panel) and sur...

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Virtues - Compromise

Virtues - Compromise

We initially thought this odd scene may refer to one of Loretta Young's films...

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Virtues - Curiosity

Virtues - Curiosity

Lord Rutherford wears a coronet - he had been raised to the peerage in 1931. ...

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Virtues - Defiance

Virtues - Defiance

In front of the white cliffs of Dover Winston Churchill, in his signature sir...

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Nearby Memorials

Virtues - Pursuit

Virtues - Pursuit

WC2, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery - Staircase Hall - North Vestibule

Fred Hoyle became known for his original, even controversial, approach to his topic. Here, to observe the glittering, swirling, celestial...

1 subject commemorated
Henry Hicks

Henry Hicks

N7, Roman Way

The small building with the mural is UK Power Network's Wheelwright Street sub-station, with Pentonville Prison behind.

1 subject commemorated
Curtain Theatre - Curtain Road

Curtain Theatre - Curtain Road

EC2, Curtain Road, Horse and Groom pub

Great display of street art on the side of this pub - all by Schade.  More about the site of the Curtain Theatre at the plaque, Curtain T...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Gold post box - Westminster

Gold post box - Westminster

SW1, Tothill Street

The plaque is a nasty modern thing, as they are on all these Olympic boxes, so on each one we try to find other more interesting features...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Muses - Thalia

Muses - Thalia

WC2, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery - Staircase Hall - Half-way Landing

Lady Lesley Jowitt as Thalia the muse of comedy and bucolic poetry.

1 subject commemorated