Goetze Grave In Paddington Cemetery

935/0/10078 WILLESDEN LANE 08-NOV-01 Goetze Grave in Paddington Cemetery

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Goetze memorial. C.1911. By Kelly, monumental masons, incorporating figural elements ascribed to Alfred Gilbert. Pink granite Celtic cross on two-stage base, with a pair of coped ledgers in front, set within a kerb of granite with cast bronze railings. High relief on centre of cross depicts a [air of angels with entwined wings, carrying aloft a naked figure representing the soul. The railings are decorated with curving arabesque decoration with circles to the centre of each face. At the corners are square colonnettes bearing allegorical cowled figures depicting the Christian Virtues. HISTORY: this memorial commemorates James Goetze (d.1877) and his wife Rosina (d.1911), and was erected by their son, the painter and patron Sigismund Goetze (1866-1939). Goetze was an associate of Alfred Gilbert, the pre-eminent sculptor of his day, and the allegorical figures are related to his similar figures executed in 1892-1900 for the memorial candlestick to Lord Arthur Russell at Chenies, Buckinghamshire. An outstanding example of outdoor funerary sculpture of its day, compellingly ascribed to Gilbert.