''Verity'' is a 2012

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

and

bronze statue Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (su ...

created by

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

. The tall sculpture stands on the pier at the entrance to the harbour in

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay towar ...

, Devon, looking out over the Bristol Channel towards South Wales. It has been loaned to the town for 20 years. The name of the piece refers to "truth" and Hirst describes his work as a "modern allegory of truth and justice". The statue depicts a pregnant woman holding aloft a sword while carrying the scales of justice and standing on a pile of law books. Half of the sculpture shows the internal anatomy of the pregnant woman, with the

foetus A fetus or foetus (; : fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn offspring of a viviparous animal that develops from an embryo. Following the embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Prenatal development is a ...

clearly visible. The stance has been described as a reference to ''

Little Dancer of Fourteen Years ''The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer'' (French: ') is a sculpture begun c. 1880 by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem. Description The sculpture is two-thirds life size a ...

'' by

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

, a c. 1880 work that previously inspired Hirst when he created ''Virgin Mother'', another massive sculpture of a pregnant woman with her foetus exposed. The sculpture was cast in stainless steel and bronze in 40 separate sections by the Pangolin Editions

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...

. The sword, which gives the statue much of its height, and the upper left arm is one

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

piece. Measuring 25 cm (10 inches) higher than the ''

Angel of the North The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is seen by an estimated 33 million people every year due to its proximity to the A1 road (Great Bri ...

'', ''Verity'' became the tallest statue in the UK when it was put into place, but is now surpassed by '' The Kelpies'', near Falkirk, Scotland, at . Members of North Devon Council referred to the controversial nature of the statue as a potential boost to tourism. In August 2013 councillors announced that the statue had a "tremendous effect" with people visiting the town solely to see Hirst's work. Hirst, who lives in

, has loaned the statue to the town for 20 years starting from its erection on 16 October 2012.

References

External links

{{Damien Hirst 2012 sculptures Works by Damien Hirst English contemporary works of art Ilfracombe Bronze sculptures in England 2012 in England Culture in Devon Colossal statues in the United Kingdom Sculptures of children in England Allegorical sculptures in the United Kingdom Sculptures of women in England Pregnancy in art Stainless steel sculptures

See also

References

External links