The sculpture was commissioned in 1890 by
The Washington Post founder
Stilson Hutchins, who wanted it placed in London but subsequently backed out of the deal. Elwell, a sculptor based in New York City, completed the work anyway and had it cast by the
Bureau Brothers Foundry in Philadelphia, where it won a gold medal from the
Art Club of Philadelphia in 1891.
The New York Times wrote, "Among the art exhibits of this country at the World's Fair, probably no particular example has attracted more popular interest than the sculptural memorial to Charles Dickens, the work of Mr. F. Edwin Elwell, a young artist". But the work failed to find a buyer immediately, and Elwell had it sent back halfway across the country to a Philadelphia warehouse. In 1896, the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the
Association for Public Art) opened negotiations to buy the work and keep it in Philadelphia, perhaps because "Dickens was twice a visitor here, in 1842 and again 1867, and garnered a following of almost rock star proportions." In 1900, FPAA bought the sculpture for $7,500 ($ today). George G. Pierele, chief of the Bureau of City Property, reportedly pressed for its installation in Clark Park. The following year, it was placed in the park, near the intersection of South 43rd Street and
Baltimore Avenue. This move may have been influenced by the park's namesake, financier
Clarence H. Clark, a member of the FPAA artworks committee. The sculpture was initially placed on a temporary pedestal, and funds were soon raised to purchase a permanent one. Made of
Woodstock granite by W.R. Martin of Philadelphia and installed in 1902, the pedestal included three steps and a die of 4'8" by 3'4" by 4'2". By 1908, the association was receiving, and rebuffing, requests to move it to a more prominent place in the city. In 1911, the sculpture was mentioned in the
Encyclopædia Britannica as one of the city's notable artworks.
Lorado Taft wrote in his influential 1903 book
The History of American Sculpture: In his "Dickens and Little Nell" the sculptor has given us that rare thing,—a portrait statue which makes an emotional appeal. To be sure, its dramatic power is due to a secondary figure, as is the case in Mr. French's "
Gallaudet," but the use of such a figure is legitimate when it detracts nothing from the effect of the principal, but rather enhances it, and when it is in itself as charming in conception as is Mr. Elwell's "Little Nell." The sculpture was vandalized in November 1989, but restored. File:Elwell-Dickens&LittleNell-studio.png|Elwell, right, and a model in his studio with
Dickens and Little Nell in 1890 File:"Dickens and Little Nell", The World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.jpg|
Dickens and Little Nell at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 ==Other statues to Dickens==