William Turnbull’s bronze is a sensual work, one that likely relates to the Greek mythology surrounding the meaning of ‘Erato’ – the muse of lyrical love poetry, and from which in English the word ‘erotic’ is derived. Erato (1982) alludes to the human form, taking full advantage of the reflective, skin-like qualities of bronze whilst the exacting nature of each curve evokes as much a supernatural nymph-like being as a woman. Erato reflects a fascination Turnbull first developed in the 1950s, when the artist became interested in the ‘idols’ (divine or celebrity) around which humans flock to worship. Features such as the parallel lines etched on either side of the torso suggest something otherworldly about this otherwise human form, but they might also be seen as the artist playing with the boundary between the organic and the machine.