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Queen Victoria Model

Model
ca. 1902 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a sketch model for the Victoria Memorial, made by Sir Thomas Brock and cast by John Webb Singer. This cast was probably taken from the first clay sketch model which Brock was commissioned to execute by the Queen Victoria Memorial Committee in April 1901. This model was completed by the following summer when it was officially inspected by the King in June 1901.
In 1921 the Victoria Memorial was described by Kineton Parkes as 'Sir Thomas Brock's biggest undertaking, and the most considerable work of a monumental kind in recent London Sculpture'.
Two further models for the Victoria memorial outside Buckingham Palace are also in the Museum's collections (inv. nos. A.8 and 9-1977). These three bronzes were given to the Museum by Mr and Mrs Roland Morris in 1977. Mr Roland Morris's father was William Thomas Morris (1874-1944), Chairman and Managing Director of the Morris Singer Company who cast the works.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleQueen Victoria Model (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Brief description
Model, bronze, for Queen Victoria Memorial, after a model by Sir Thomas Brock, cast by John Webb Singer, English, ca. 1902
Physical description
The central feature of the memorial, the square column is surmounted by a figure of Victory with Constancy and Courage at her feet. The column shows the figure of Queen Victoria, the group of Truth on her left side, the group of Justice on her right side and at the back the group of Motherhood. It rests on a plinth at the corners of which are four prows. Two bearing the fruits and the flowers of the earth, the other two show naval and military trophies.
Dimensions
  • Height: 42cm
  • Width: 34cm
  • Depth: 27.5cm
Object history
Given by Mr. and Mrs Roland Morris, Suffolk, in 1977, together with A.8-1977 and A.9-1977. Mr Roland Morris's father was William Thomas Morris (1874-1944), Chairman and Managing Director of the Morris Singer Company.
This cast was probably taken from the first clay sketch model which Brock was commissioned to execute by the Queen Victoria Memorial Committee in April 1901. This model was completed by the following summer when it was officially inspected by the King in June 1901.

Historical significance: In 1921 the Victoria Memorial was described by Kineton Parkes as 'Sir Thomas Brock's biggest undertaking, and the most considerable work of a monumental kind in recent London Sculpture'.
Historical context
Brock's monument formed only part of the Queen Victoria Memorial. The committee also approved Aston Webb's scheme, submitted in competition with four other architects, for the architectural treatment of the West End of the Mall, and for the transformation of the Mall into a processional route by creating an entrance at Charing Cross, and by arranging groups of sculpture at intervals along its length.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a sketch model for the Victoria Memorial, made by Sir Thomas Brock and cast by John Webb Singer. This cast was probably taken from the first clay sketch model which Brock was commissioned to execute by the Queen Victoria Memorial Committee in April 1901. This model was completed by the following summer when it was officially inspected by the King in June 1901.
In 1921 the Victoria Memorial was described by Kineton Parkes as 'Sir Thomas Brock's biggest undertaking, and the most considerable work of a monumental kind in recent London Sculpture'.
Two further models for the Victoria memorial outside Buckingham Palace are also in the Museum's collections (inv. nos. A.8 and 9-1977). These three bronzes were given to the Museum by Mr and Mrs Roland Morris in 1977. Mr Roland Morris's father was William Thomas Morris (1874-1944), Chairman and Managing Director of the Morris Singer Company who cast the works.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Parkes, K., Sculpture of Today, I, London, 1921, p. 65
  • Bilbey, Diane and Trusted, Marjorie. British Sculpture 1470-2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002, p. 221-222, cat.no 338
  • Nairne, Sandy, and Nicholas Serota (eds.), British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century, London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1981.
  • Fillitz, Hermann (ed.), Der Traum vom Glück : die Kunst des Historismus in Europa, Wien : Künstlerhaus, 1996 12.21
Collection
Accession number
A.7-1977

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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