The Dickens sculpture, by New York City sculptor Francis Edwin Elwell, shows the 19th-century author and one of his characters, Nell Trent of the novel "The Old Curiosity Shop". The work was commissioned in 1890 by Stilson Hutchins, who soon pulled out of the deal. Elwell nevertheless finished the sculpture, which won a gold medal in 1891 from the Art Club of Philadelphia and two gold medals at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. In 1896, the Fairmount Park Art Association (FPAA) bought the sculpture for $7,500 ($ today); it was placed in Clark Park the following year. By 1908, the association was receiving, and rebuffing, requests to move it to a more prominent place in the city.