Sculpture of Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy rises from London lake

Remember the moment in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” when Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy emerges from the water?

Swimmers in London’s Serpentine Lake have a large-scale reminder of the brooding and dashing Darcy -- soaked shirt and all.

In another example of art meets advertising, a 12-foot fiberglass sculpture was installed Monday to re-create the scene.

The piece, which took a team of three two months to complete, was mostly modeled after Firth (see the signature sideburns) with added inspiration from other on-screen Darcys and Austen’s novel, the Daily Mail reported.

PHOTOS: Arts and culture by The Times

The sculpture is to tour nearby British bodies of water until it’s permanently installed at Lyme Park in Cheshire, where the scene was filmed.

British TV network UKTV commissioned the piece to promote its new channel, Drama. A recent survey by the network found that viewers count the lake scene as one of TV’s most memorable moments.

“Jane Austen spent a lot of time walking in Hyde Park and along the banks of the Serpentine, so we would like to think she would have approved of our new dashing Darcy,” Adrian Wills, general manager of Drama, told the Sun newspaper.

It’s hard to imagine that Austen -- or Firth -- could have foreseen their work recast in fiberglass.

Does the sculpture size up to Firth in the flesh? Watch the clip below and let us know in the comments.

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