The Sleeping Children

The Sleeping Children is a marble sculpture by Francis Chantrey. The statue depicts Ellen-Jane and Marianne Robinson asleep in each other's arms on a bed. The statue was commissioned by the mother of the two children, also named Ellen-Jane Robinson, whose daughters had died in 1813 and 1814. The statue was placed in the south east corner of Lichfield Cathedral in 1817 where it remains. The work is considered to be one of Chantrey's finest works and one of the greatest works of English sculpture during the period.