I went to the cemetery it was an icy, windy and cold day, I found his site and the indentation where he lay that it had not been refilled yet. On the flip side of life and death I was requested to not attend my beloved’s funeral, yeah one of those grown selfish children stories. A truly spiritual and awe inspiring day hanging with my bestie. I remember walking hours visiting the graves and mausoleums. The Pere LaChaise Cemetery should be added as a World Wonder. I remember seeing statues like this in Paris. How beautiful how much the man truly loved his wife and created such a touching memory. We found quite a number of Find a Grave memorials that include a statue of the Angel of Grief. In popular culture the image of the angel has also been used on album covers and in a film. Within a few years, copies of the angel started showing up in other cemeteries around the world and still do to this day. The Angel of Grief left its intended effect, evoking the feelings of sadness, despair, despondence, and mourning alongside its breathtaking beauty and eternal posture. He is buried underneath the angel, with his wife. Yet to do it helps me.”( The Browning’s Correspondence)Īfter he completed this sculpture for the grave of his wife, he fell into a long illness and died the following year. William described the sculpture and his feelings to a relative: “It represents the Angel of Grief, in utter abandonment, throwing herself with drooping wings and hidden face over a funeral altar. When this was done, he left the studio never to return.” The creation of the Angel of Grief was written about in an 1896 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine: “It was only when his children suggested that he should make a monument to her memory that he consented to resume work the design he chose was the ‘Angel of Grief’ and it is wrought to exquisite finish, as are the statues modeled in his summer prime. He wrote to a friend after her death that Emelyn was “my life, my joy, my stay and help in all things…what is left seems to be but a blank of silence, a dead wall which, when I cry out…only echoes back my own voice.” ( The Browning’s Correspondence) Emelyn died in 1894 at age 73, and William, in his solemn grief, lost all interest in the affairs of life. Letters to friends say that they both “felt great regret as they finished the last page.” Theirs was a mature love, gained after being married for fifty years. At one point William was having difficulty finding time to read Ben-Hur, so he and Emelyn decided to read it aloud to one another-all 744 pages.
William and Emelyn enjoyed each other’s company. William sculpted the memorial for his father and continued his artistry with many other famous sculptures. In Rome, he and his family were well known in social circles and his palace apartments in Palazzo Barberini (which contained forty rooms in total) became a hub for intellectuals, writers, and artists. It was then that William and his family moved to Italy for his study of sculpture. After his father’s death in 1845, he was commissioned to create a memorial statue. He also wrote a biography on his father, an Associate Justice for the U.S. He was a well-known sculptor, practiced law, authored poems, wrote other literary works, and was an art critic. They had four children: Edith, Joseph, Thomas, and Julian. William and Emelyn Story married in their youth and spent their lives together. It was William Wetmore Story’s last sculpture, made to mark the grave of his wife, Emelyn. The “Angel of Grief Weeping over the Altar of Life” is located in Campo Cestio beneath the shadow of the once-occupied pyramid tomb of Caius Cestius. The laurel branches that she brought to the altar have fallen from her hand and lie at the base, their evergreen leaves, which symbolize victory and immortality, no longer victorious. Her body is eternally slumped in bereavement. She seems to be abandoning all else as she steps up and falls on the altar of life in mourning. The angels’ wings dominate the scene, but even they look to feel the despair as they drape over the altar to the ground.
Her face remains unseen unless you are close to the sculpture. The angel is dressed in classical Roman attire. We all know the sadness and loneliness that follows after a loved one dies and are glad that leaving flowers and visiting the memorial helps.Ī particular sculpture captures this sadness: the Angel of Grief, which graces the grave of Emelyn Story. We’ve received messages from you that mention how visiting a Find a Grave memorial has helped with the grieving process. The memorials added to Find a Grave® not only document the burial locations or dispositions of those who have passed on, but also memorialize and celebrate their lives.
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