The Angel of Grief

One of the most touching cemetery monuments ever done was by William Wetmore Story who lived between 1819 and 1895. When his wife Emelyn died in 1894, William was literally heart-broken and inconsolable. In memory of her he sculpted this magnificent, yet sad angel crying over her tomb. Known as the 'Angel of Grief,' this sculpture is in a Protestant cemetery in Rome, where poets Shelley and Keats are also buried. Besides his wife, William is also buried there as is their son, who died in Rome at the age of 6. They had 3 other children, one a sculptor, and other one a painter and a third a writer.