Sculptures at the Poplars, Avenue Road

The Monds of Avenue Road

Ludwig and Frida Mond, who had come to live in England, in 1866, to pursue Ludwig’s career as an industrial chemist, lived at The Poplars, a mansion in Avenue Road. The dining room was designed by John McKean Brydon, who also designed Tissot’s studio.

Two statues – Sappho and Sophocles

From the 1880s onwards the Monds began to winter in Italy and surrounded themselves with a circle of young artists, scientists and writers. Among these were two sculptors, Ferdinand Seeboeck, an Austrian, (whom the Monds had given money to establish himself in Rome) and Constantin Dausch, a German, who had studios near the Spanish Steps. The Monds acquired two statues, one of Sappho, the seventh century poetess, sculpted by Seeboeck, and one of Sophocles, copied by Dausch from the Lateran Sophocles now in the Vatican Museum.  These were taken back to England and positioned in the hall of The Poplars.

Donation to King’s college, London

When Mrs Mond died, in 1923, her sons and executors, Alfred and Robert, sought advice from another of their mother’s protegés, Professor Sir Israel Gollancz, Secretary of the British Academy and Professor of English at King’s College in the Strand. He suggested that, as well as bequeathing their mother’s collection of manuscripts, paintings and books connected with the German Romantic poets Goethe and Schiller to the College, the statues would look impressive in the entrance hall at King’s College, where they remain to this day

With thanks to an article by Professor Michael Trapp