This is the model for the allegorical figure on the marble monument to Admiral Vernon (1684-1757) in Westminster Abbey. In the monument, Fame (or perhaps Victory) is running to crown the admiral's head with a wreath of laurels. The pose echoes that of both the Discobolus, a famous ancient sculpture of a discuss-thrower, as well as that of the so-called Borghese Gladiator; a life-size Greek sculpture of a swordsman found at Ephesus (in present day Turkey) which was much admired and copied in the 18th century (there are copies at Windsor Castle, Petworth House, and Houghton Hall, for instance).

Rysbrack (1694-1770) was born in Antwerp, and trained in the Netherlands, but spent his working life in Britain. He was one of the most important sculptors active in this country in the first half of the 18th century, and specialised in portrait busts and funerary monuments. Although he never visited Italy, many of his works are clearly indebted to classical archetypes. His terracotta models are particularly fine, and are often virtually finished pieces in their own right.