St Thomas à Becket sculpture

The statue of St Thomas à Becket is a fibreglass resin sculpture created by E Bainbridge Copnall between 1970 and 1971, and it was installed in St Paul’s Cathedral Churchyard in 1973. The statue has a bronzed finish and measures 2.45 meters long and 1.3 meters high, making it larger than life. It is mounted on a stepped stone base that is 22 centimeters tall, which features a plaque that reads ‘BECKET / BY/ BAINBRIDGE COPNALL / ACQUIRED BY THE CORPORATION OF LONDON / 1973’.

The sculpture depicts St Thomas à Becket in a prostrate position at the moment of his martyrdom in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. This posture has been compared to still photographs from the 1970 production of T.S. Eliot’s play 'Murder in the Cathedral', which was staged in Canterbury Cathedral. The figure's head is thrown back, and the hands are extended as if to ward off the blows of his assassins. The face is expressively rendered, featuring an elongated chin, pointed nose, and lentoid eyes with heavy eyelids. During a restoration, Patrick Crouch added a hood to the flowing drapery of the gown to enhance the stability of the sculpture.