{"id":386,"date":"2009-04-13T23:44:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-13T23:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdon.blog\/abingdon2007\/2009\/04\/13\/the-lesson\/"},"modified":"2009-04-13T23:44:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-13T23:44:00","slug":"the-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386","title":{"rendered":"The Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041304.jpg\" \/><br \/>While walking in Sutton Courtney a while back, I noticed this familiar Mother and Child sculpture, surrounded by trees. It is where <a href=\"http:\/\/findarticles.com\/p\/articles\/mi_qn4158\/is_20000708\/ai_n14328042\/\">Franta Belsky<\/a>, the Czech born sculptor, used to have his studio.<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041305.jpg\" \/><br \/>Entitled <em>The Lesson,<\/em> the sculpture is permanently on display in Abingdon near the library, and bears the inscription <em>&#8216;In memory of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cartoons.ac.uk\/artists\/margaretbelsky\/biography\">Margaret Belsky<\/a>&#8216;<\/em> . She was a well known newspaper cartoonist in the 1960s, and the wife of the sculptor. <em>The Lesson<\/em> was one of her favourite works.<\/p>\n<p>It was presented to Abingdon by Franta Belsky, in 1989, the year of his wife&#8217;s death, and is the second bronze casting.<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041399.jpg\" \/><br \/>The first was unveiled in 1959 in Bethnal Green, London. I presume the verdigris one in Sutton Courtney is a prototype.<\/p>\n<p>(Thanks to the Information Centre for an Abingdon Herald article on 21 Sept 1989 called &#8220;<em>Sculptor&#8217;s memory in Bronze<\/em>&#8220;)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While walking in Sutton Courtney a while back, I noticed this familiar Mother and Child sculpture, surrounded by trees. It is where Franta Belsky, the Czech born sculptor, used to have his studio.Entitled The Lesson, the sculpture is permanently on display in Abingdon near the library, and bears the inscription &#8216;In memory of Margaret Belsky&#8216; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Lesson - Abingdon Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Lesson - Abingdon Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While walking in Sutton Courtney a while back, I noticed this familiar Mother and Child sculpture, surrounded by trees. It is where Franta Belsky, the Czech born sculptor, used to have his studio.Entitled The Lesson, the sculpture is permanently on display in Abingdon near the library, and bears the inscription &#8216;In memory of Margaret Belsky&#8216; [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Abingdon Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-13T23:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041304.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Back Streeter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Back Streeter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Back Streeter\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0511e31de811b9256f1a4ccd0bd08682\"},\"headline\":\"The Lesson\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-13T23:44:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386\"},\"wordCount\":142,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/imag09\\\/09041304.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386\",\"name\":\"The Lesson - Abingdon Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/imag09\\\/09041304.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-13T23:44:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/imag09\\\/09041304.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/imag09\\\/09041304.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?p=386#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Lesson\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Abingdon Blog\",\"description\":\"News and Pictures\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Abingdon Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/wp2026\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/blogico.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/wp2026\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/11\\\/blogico.jpg\",\"width\":16,\"height\":16,\"caption\":\"Abingdon Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/abingdonblog\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0511e31de811b9256f1a4ccd0bd08682\",\"name\":\"Back Streeter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f84d08cc9bda3d37e305c138340ce6df32aed78e5de176ab7ed47eeba607eed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f84d08cc9bda3d37e305c138340ce6df32aed78e5de176ab7ed47eeba607eed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f84d08cc9bda3d37e305c138340ce6df32aed78e5de176ab7ed47eeba607eed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Back Streeter\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Lesson - Abingdon Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Lesson - Abingdon Blog","og_description":"While walking in Sutton Courtney a while back, I noticed this familiar Mother and Child sculpture, surrounded by trees. It is where Franta Belsky, the Czech born sculptor, used to have his studio.Entitled The Lesson, the sculpture is permanently on display in Abingdon near the library, and bears the inscription &#8216;In memory of Margaret Belsky&#8216; [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386","og_site_name":"Abingdon Blog","article_published_time":"2009-04-13T23:44:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041304.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Back Streeter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Back Streeter","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386"},"author":{"name":"Back Streeter","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/0511e31de811b9256f1a4ccd0bd08682"},"headline":"The Lesson","datePublished":"2009-04-13T23:44:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386"},"wordCount":142,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041304.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386","url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386","name":"The Lesson - Abingdon Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041304.jpg","datePublished":"2009-04-13T23:44:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041304.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag09\/09041304.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=386#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Lesson"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/","name":"Abingdon Blog","description":"News and Pictures","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#organization","name":"Abingdon Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/wp2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/blogico.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/wp2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/blogico.jpg","width":16,"height":16,"caption":"Abingdon Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/abingdonblog\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/0511e31de811b9256f1a4ccd0bd08682","name":"Back Streeter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f84d08cc9bda3d37e305c138340ce6df32aed78e5de176ab7ed47eeba607eed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f84d08cc9bda3d37e305c138340ce6df32aed78e5de176ab7ed47eeba607eed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f84d08cc9bda3d37e305c138340ce6df32aed78e5de176ab7ed47eeba607eed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Back Streeter"},"url":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}