Erection date: 1958
Concentrating on the stone relief: in the horizontal central section the wavy lines behind the donkey represent water. In the background, seen below the friar's arms, are architectural elements: a dome, a window. We think these reference respectively the Thames and the city.
The sculpture is often taken to represent a knight, which may be caused by the gatherings on the sleeves resembling armour, and familiarity with the image of that rather slovenly knight on a horse, Don Quixote. The hood is definitely a clerical hood, not a helmet. Art UK describe the facial features as being "stylised" whereas they are clearly the features of a Black man. Copnall probably intended this as a light-hearted visual pun; he has illustrated a "black" friar. How times change.
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Site: Black friar on a donkey (1 memorial)
SE1, Blackfriars Road, 160, Friars House
Until late 2023 this stone relief relieved the visual plainness of a brick wall. And to be honest, we preferred it like that. Perhaps the mural is temporary. Not that we don't like the mural (by Baiyu Liu) but it detracts from the sculpture, which we have always liked.
The choice of subject for this delightful sculpture was probably prompted by the name of the road without any thought about historical accuracy. The Blackfriars Priory was on the northern side of the Thames, due north of here, 1278 - 1538. At that time there was no Blackfriars Bridge (London Bridge being the only dry route across the river) and consequently this location has probably never seen any black friars, let along black, black friars.
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