Oxford's Trinity College Seeks Three Missing 17th-Century Statues

Oxford's Trinity College has asked the public to help locate three stone statues that have been missing since the 1820s. The 9-foot figures once stood on the college chapel tower overlooking Broad Street. College archivist Clare Hopkins discovered the discrepancy while reviewing plans to replace the current weathered statues.

She found that the existing figures are 19th-century replacements rather than the originals installed between 1691 and 1694.

The original statues represented astronomy, geometry, theology, and medicine. An Oxford stonemason removed all four in the early 1820s and installed the current set. The medicine figure was moved to a garden inside the college and remains there. A sketch of the original figures survives from the period when college president Ralph Bathurst consulted architect Christopher Wren during the chapel's construction.

Hopkins stated that the statues on the chapel tower are an iconic part of the college and that gaps in their documented history are frustrating. The college is seeking any stone statue or fragment showing classical female forms that could date from the late 17th or early 19th century and have a connection to Oxford.

Stone carver Alex Wenham has been commissioned to carve new replacement statues for the tower. The college said anyone who possesses or has seen matching pieces should contact the institution.