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Title:
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Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
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Artist: |
Baron Carlo Marochetti
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The 2nd Duke of Wellington raised this 82 ft. high monument to his father as a token of the affection and respect of the tenantry, servants and labourers on his estates. According to the Illustrated London News (vol.49, no.1395, 1866), the tenants and servants "had raised among themselves a few hundred pounds, when the .....Duke responded to their views and requested them to leave the matter in his hands, promising that he would see a suitable memorial of their wishes erected". The memorial was three years in the making. The 9ft high portrait statue was a second cast of the one erected in 1854 at Leeds. It is an image clearly inspired by Sir Thomas Lawrence's 1814 portrait of the Duke, though the sculptor chose to omit the Sword of State which the Duke is holding aloft with his right hand in the portrait. Marochetti designed the column, which was of granite, from the quarries of Messrs Freeman and Son in Cornwall, with bronze capital and base. The Times reported the transport of the massive granite elements from Cornwall to Stratfieldsaye on 1 Feb. 1866, including the column shaft, which consisted of a single block weighing 60 tons. The inauguration of the whole monument took place on 31 July 1866. At this event, the 2nd Duke proposed a toast to Marochetti, to whom was owed "whatever enjoyment those who looked upon the monument might derive from the contemplation of the beauty of its design". This design was in the words of the Times report on the occasion, "one of severe simplicity, combined , notwithstanding the solidity of the materials, with lightness and elegance". Earl Stanhope congratulated the Duke for the judgement he had displayed in choosing Marochetti. The Duke and Marochetti were in fact good friends, sharing a hunting lodge in Norfolk. The Illustrated London News (vol.XLVIII, no.1395, Oct. 1866, p.392), in its account of the memorial, praised Marochetti's figure: "The position of the statue is easy and graceful, and it is one of Baron Marochetti's most successful productions".
It should be remembered that the 1st Duke of Wellington had been largely responsible for the choice of a column surmounted by a statue for both the memorial to the Duke of York in London, and for that of Nelson in Trafalgar Square. This preference of his father for columns as memorials would certainly have been recalled by the 2nd Duke when he came to erect this one.
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Material(s): |
Bronze
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Medium: |
Unassigned |
Finish: |
- |
Technique: |
Cast |
Genre: |
Portrait Statue (Standing)
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Location: |
Stratfield Saye (Hants) - Gate on Basingstoke Road, , ,
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Colours: |
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Year: |
1866 |
Height: |
0 metres |
Width: |
0 metres |
Depth: |
0 metres |
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Key: |
2104 |
Acc. No.: |
2104 |
Col. No.: |
2104 |
Number of views: |
4498 |
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