with its springing big cat comes
to mind, as does Mercedes with
its enigmatic three-point star. But
the most romantic mascot belongs
to Rolls-Royce, with its 'Spirit of
Ecstasy,' inaugurated in 1907, a
lissome female figure standing,
wings already aloft, preparing to
take flight.
There is more than meets the
eye to this slender goddess, for
she embodies ecstasy, not in the
abstract, but in the real form of a
love affair. Commissioned from
sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes
by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, she
is the latter's paean to his secret
love for his secretary, Eleanor
Velasco Thornton. Eleanor died in
1915 while accompanying Lord
Montagu on his trip to India on the
SS Persia; the ship was torpedoed
off Crete by a German submarine.
Rolls-Royce Spirity of Ecstasy
(1907-1925)
From 40/50 HP
Sykes' first incarnation of Eleanor
was sculpted, in about 1907, for
Montagu's own Rolls-Royce Silver
Ghost, a figurine who alluded to
their clandestine love by pressing
a finger against her lips. This
HYLAND
