Tomb of Sir Joseph and Lady Elizabeth Nightingale

In the marvellously dramatic tomb of Lady Elizabeth Nightingale (1761), she is shown being attacked with a spear by Death (a hideous skeleton emerging from a vault), while her husband vainly tries to keep him at bay (the skeleton was carved by Roubiliac’s assistant Nicolas Read, c. 1733-87). The Nightingale monument clearly shows the influence of Bernini, whose work so impressed Roubiliac when he visited Rome in 1752.