This group of 5 mermaids is perhaps linked to the story of the little mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson. The little mermaid falls in love with a shipwrecked Prince and thus desperately wants to be human. Helped by a witch, she changes her tail into legs, but as a forfeit she loses the power of speech and can’t tell the Prince of her love. He falls in love with someone else.... The model of all five mermaids is Jane Hales, Evelyn's maid." http://www.demorgan.org.uk/The%20Sea%20Maidens