A competition to design a memorial to commemorate the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park was announced in July 1857. Stevens produced this model, but it was unsuccessful. In Stevens's model a standing figure of Queen Victoria surmounts the memorial. Around the base are allegorical figures representing Asia, Africa, America and Europe. The winning design, by Joseph Durham, was originally intended for Hyde Park, but is now situated near the V&A behind the Albert Hall.

In his youth, Alfred Stevens (1817/18-1875) spent nine years studying in Italy, where he was trained in painting, sculpture, architectural design and ornament. A sculptor, designer and painter, Stevens rejected contemporary distinctions between fine art and design. From 1850 to 1857 he was chief designer to Hoole & Co., Sheffield, where he produced award-winning designs for metalwork, majolica, terracotta ornaments and chimney-pieces. Perhaps his two greatest works were the decorations for the dining-room at Dorchester House, London (about 1856), for which he made countless drawings inspired by the Italian High Renaissance style, in particular the work of Michelangelo and the monument to the Duke of Wellington for St Paul's Cathedral, London, which was completed after his death. The two allegorical groups from this monument made a lasting impact on the New Sculpture movement. The influence of the Italian Renaissance is evident in much of his work, and is perhaps best reflected in the Wellington monument.