Peter Pan is both one of the most well-known sculptures in all of London and Sir George Frampton’s most famous piece of art. J. M. Barrie, who resided at Bayswater Road, is the mind behind the creation of Peter. The Llewellyn Davies family, whom he met in Kensington Gardens, served as the inspiration for the Darling family in his writings.
The books were then adapted into a tremendously popular play, which is being routinely produced even to this day. In 1906, Sir George Barrie made the decision to sculpt a statue of Peter Pan.
He used pictures he had taken of a young Michael Llewellyn Davies dressed as Peter Pan to serve as a model for the monument, which he then had Sir George Frampton build. In 1912, the monument was installed over the course of two days behind curtains, which were then withdrawn overnight to give the impression that it had miraculously materialised overnight.
There is a surprise in store for the youngsters who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning, according to a statement that Barrie published in The Times, which he shared with the readers of that publication.
Complaints were lodged in Parliament over the author’s decision to promote his work in a public park; nonetheless, the sculpture quickly became an enormous popular success, and duplicates of it may now be seen in Liverpool, Toronto, Brussels, New Jersey, and Perth, Australia.
On the statue, Peter is seen sitting on a tree stump while playing his pipes while being surrounded by other woodland creatures such as rabbits, mice, squirrels, and fairies. The popularity of the artwork may be deduced from the fact that the animals’ shining surfaces show signs of having been touched by youngsters; yet, in 1928 it was vandalised by someone who applied tar and feathers to it, and the pipes have been stolen several times.
Now you can also see the statue come alive! Pass a Talking Statue, swipe your phone on a nearby tag and your phone will ring, someone important will be on the line. For more information have a look here.
