Once upon a time, the medieval residents of Coventry in England suffering immensely beneath the yoke of oppressive taxes pleaded in vain to their powerful landlord for relief. Lady Godiva, the young wife of the landlord, was also very upset about the pathetic condition of the people and repeatedly requested Leofric, her husband, to give them relief, which he always refused. Finally, as he grew tired of her pleas, Leofric agreed to grant her request if she would strip naked and ride on a horse through the streets of the town in broad daylight. Much to the surprise of her husband, Lady Godiva accepted the offer and appealed to the townspeople to stay inside, close their shutters and doors, while she would ride naked for their relief. As a mark of respect for the lady who took an extreme step to accept the challenge of her husband for their benefit, the people dutifully locked their windows and doors, and Lady Godiva rode through the streets atop a white stallion with only her long, flowing locks covering her bosoms. She then returned to her husband, and he, true to his word, lowered taxes for the benefit of the people.

However, Tom, the tailor of the town, could not resist catching a glimpse of the naked beauty and drilled a hole in his shutters to watch her ride by. According to the story, he was branded as Peeping Tom (Ref - Origin of the term Peeping Tom) by the rest of the people when they found out the truth and blinded him for ignoring Lady Godiva’s request.

The story first appeared in Flore Historiarum or Flowers of History, written by some Roger of Wendover, but considered to be only a fabricated story based on some unconfirmed anecdotes that survived from Lady Godiva’s lifetime. In fact, Lady Godiva, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman and the wife of Leofric, the Earl of Mercia, was a notable philanthropist, who frequently gave money, gold, and once even paid for the building of a monastery in Coventry.

The equestrian statue of Lady Godiva, exhibited in the Maidstone Museum, located in Maidstone, Kent, in England, was created by a British sculptor and artist John Thomas, who also worked on the Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster. In the statue she is depicted as a nude classical beauty with fine features, sitting awkwardly on her horse, her shoulders and back rounded and hiding her bosoms under her long unlocked hair.

In the sculpture by John Thomas, the curves and nudity of Lady Godiva seem to resemble a classical Greek Goddess. But unlike their confident appearance, Lady Godiva appears to be uncomfortable about her nudity, although it was heroic. Her apparent discomfort is due to her embarrassment, which she accepted to protest against the ill-treatment of her people, and in doing so, she pushed the limits of her sense of morality and belief to the extreme and challenged the tyrannical decision of her husband. In the sculpture, John Thomas is extremely successful to depict the inner-struggle of the heroic lady who preferred to give up her feminine inhibition to help her helpless people.