"Set Me Free" - Ariel from Shakespeare's The Tempest
Ltd edition Bronze: 9
Plinth: Various materials available: Carrara marble, Portland stone, Granite; please contact Sculptor to discuss.
Choice of patination also available; again please contact Sculptor to discuss.
Size: 7ft 6 inches - 8 ft (depending on plinth)
Price: £18,000
For sale through Whittington Fine Art Gallery, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, UK. and directly from the Sculptor's studio.
Any further information: Please contact Sculptor or Whittington Gallery
"SET ME FREE" ARIEL FROM SHAKESPEARE'S THE TEMPEST
Depicting the wonderful moment of ARIEL's release from his bonds of servitude. This beautiful Shakespearean character from THE TEMPEST - an embodiment of the ethereal free-spirit - spends the entire play quietly yearning for his freedom. Originally imprisoned "in a cleft pine" by his Witch mother, Sycorax, he is found and freed by the recently ship-wrecked Prospero, the Duke of Milan - a powerful Alchemist - who promises the spirit his eventual freedom in exchange for his help. And so, once again, the free-spirit is bound, this time in servitude, and it is not until the very end of the play that he is finally set free.
Kate Newlyn's sculpture depicts him finally taking his leave. A tender moment of sadness and gratitude, felt by both Prospero and Ariel as they part, echoed in the lovely lines "Farewell my delicate Ariel". It is the rich sadness of all partings and a testimony to a tenderness of spirit. Ariel's focus remans on Prospero as he begins his ascent into his natural element, the air, the draped material supporting the figure, suspending him, almost freed from earthly constraints, whilst still echoing the bonds which had held him.
As Shakespeare's last complete play, it has been proposed by a number of Shakespearean scholars that the character of ARIEL embodies also the spirit of Shakespeare's own artistry and that in Prospero's final liberation of the spirit, expressed in the last words of the play: "Set Me Free", Shakespeare is also saying his own farewell to the stage.
