David Wynne, R.A. (b. 1926)

The present work is a maquette for the Tyne God Fountain now at the Civic Centre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The fountain, also conceived in 1968, weighs an impressive three and a half tons and is sixteen foot long. The idea for Wynne's Tyne God originated from the representations of eight rivers on the façade of Somerset House, London dating from 1786. The work portrays the river God in human form, water streams from the raised right hand of the figure, drenching the body and then flows downwards in waterfalls from the God's beard and outstretched arm. Wynne was commissioned to create the fountain after the failure of a local competition for a new sculpture for the Civic Centre and his River God soon became a symbol of the city.