A double delight as Sophie is sculpted to help the blind
THE Countess of Wessex sits for a sculpture that blind and partially sighted people will be able to touch to discover what her face is like.
Sophie, who has been patron of the Vision Foundation since 2003, allowed the process to be filmed and streamed live to raise awareness of the charity.
The clay likeness was made by Leeds- born artist Frances Segelman, also known as Lady Petchey, who has sculpted other members of the Royal Family.
Afterwards Sophie, 55, said: “Thank you to Frances for sculpting my face today. This sculpture, and the faces of many others, will allow the blind and partially sighted to see through touch and so to more vividly imagine their world.”
She added: “For the blind and partially sighted amongst us, these past months have been especially challenging.
“However, through the care that the Vision Foundation has extended to those in difficulty, I am hopeful that the people we care for will feel empowered within their communities.” The sculpture will be unveiled next year to mark the Vision Foundation’s centenary. The charity’s chief executive Olivia Curno said yesterday: “Covid has been a major challenge.
“Many have been frightened for their own futures. We have lobbied the Government to make the blind and partially sighted a priority for things like shopping during the lockdown.”
During the sculpting session at Frances’s London studio, the artist wore a Covid- friendly face visor. She previously made a bust of the Queen in bronze in 2008.
She said of the monarch: “She came in the room and she was so calm and so poised and so willing to change her tiara, to change the jewellery, to try different things on and she seems so ordinary.
“I had to measure her with calipers... I was so nervous, you know, I was touching the Queen!”