John Howard statue , St Paul's Square, Bedford has babies heads in eye socket of faces on plinth corners. Why

Question

John Howard was a penal reformer who's wife died in childbirth

Answer 1

Seems it was "new art" style and the second source notes "conflict" with the memorial committee but?

Perhaps search "The Times"?

As to the Art Nouveau and the "eye socket" I could not locate a detailed images as to tell you if it is what was nouveau or something one sees at Ely Cathedral.





A statue commemorating Howard stands in Saint Paul's Square, Bedford. Created by Sir Alfred Gilbert, the sculptor of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, the statue was erected in 1894 and stands on a plinth decorated with a flowing Art Nouveau design. The original maquette for the figure is currently on display at the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery

The centenary statue of the great prison reformer John Howard (1726-1790), which Dorment descibes as the most satisfying of Gilbert's distinguished series of full length portraits, was commissioned for the Market Square, Bedford. After approval of the small model, as so often with Gilbert, he further elaborated the scheme and came into conflict with the memonal committee.