Statuette of Christ

This is the statuette of the Risen Christ which stood in George Eliot’s study at her home in Coventry. The house was called Bird Grove and was in Foleshill. Eliot lived there with her father from 1841 to 1849. This Christ figure brought Eliot comfort while she was translating Strauss’ The Life of Jesus from German to English. Dr Brabant employed George Eliot to translate the book when his daughter Rufa married Charles Hennell and would not be completing the translation she had started. George Eliot later took this statuette to London in 1851 and eventually presented it to her friend Cara Bray.