Reliefs representing science and art flanking statues of Victoria and Edward
Boehm almost certainly did not design or sculpt the identical vertical reliefs on either side of Victoria and Edward, and it is not clear who did, but since they relate visually to Victoria we have put them here. Ward-Jackson's combined discussion of Temple Bar and the Temple Bar Memorial, which provides detailed information about the battles over the removal of the first and the erection of the second, reports that “the memorial had cost overall £10,696 6s. 7d., £5,266. 4s. 3d. of which went to Messrs Mowlem & Co. Boehm was paid £2,152 10s for the royal figures, Birch £1,081 10s. for the griffin, Mabey £1,218 10s for the preliminary models of the memorial and three reliefs and Kelsey £385 for the one relief. The rest was spent on paving, photography, etc.” (122). Jones, the architect, Mabey, who made the preliminary models, or Mowlem & Co. could have designed the reliefs and Mowlem carved them. [Click on all images to enlarge them.]
Left: A globe with astrological signs appears above instruments for navigation, such as a compass, sextant, and telescope, which in turn appear above a human skull, possibly representing anatomy or medicine, and it in turn surmounts a compass and paper with geometrical figures. In the second detail, which presents the bottom half of the relief devoted to science, we see chemical apparatus and the tools associated with physics and engineering. Here, as is common in Victorian sculptural representations of science, its applied forms and engineering rather than what later centuries would consider its pure forms predominate. Right: Chaucer representing literature appears above a capital and column symbolizing architecture appear above musical instruments, such as a violin, tambourine, and pan pipes while the second detail, which shows the bottom portion of the relief, depicts an artist's palette, paint, and brushes surmounting the sculptor's tools, wooden mallet and chisel and implements for working in clay.
Reliefs representing war and peace on narrower sides of the memorial
Left to right: (a) West side of the memorial. (b) Medallion portrait of Prince Albert Victor of Wales on west side. (c) Medallion portrait of Lord Mayor Sir Francis Wyatt Truscott (Ward-Jackson 117).
Left to right: (a) Rifles, a detail from the panel with the symbols of war. (b) Wheat, a rake, scythe, and sickle, a detail from the panel with symbols of war. (c) The dove of peace, grapes, and fruit from the same panel.
The Temple Bar Memorial, its sculpture, and related material
- The Temple Bar Memorial (Jones)
- Sir Christopher Wren's original Temple Bar
- Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales Going to St. Paul's by Charles J. Samuel Kelsey
- Queen Victoria's Progress to the Guildhall London Nov. 9th 1837 by Charles Henry Mabey
- Edward Prince of Wales by Sir Joseph Boehm
- Griffin by Charles Birch
Photographs and information by Robert Freidus. Formatting, perspective correction, and commentary by George P. Landow. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
A very full description of the monument is available at http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/CL/Region.htm (Ref. no. CLCOL001).
Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Last modified 2 August 2011