Queen Victoria (1819-1901) by Matthew Noble (1817-1876). 1870; donated by Sir David Sassoon. The bust stands on a pedestal in front of that of Mountstuart Elphinstone, to the rear of the larger than life-size statue of Prince Albert, and is thought to have been a "working model" for the top part of the large canopied seated statue of the Queen now placed in the museum's grounds (see Steggles and Barnes 203).
The bust shows a young, graceful and gracious-looking Victoria. It is not fair, however, to say that this contrasts with "other images of her, including the many statues in India" (Steggles and Barnes 203): she is represented in similar ways” by Noble himself in his statue of her in Leeds Town Hall, and (for example)” by Sir Thomas Brock in his statue of Victoria inside the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, and Marshall Wood in his statue of her in the Indian Museum, Kolkata.
Photograph by Ramachandran Venkatesh; text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the 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, or cite the Victorian Web in a print document. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Related Material
Bibliography
Steggles, Mary Ann, and Richard Barnes. British Sculpture in India: New Views and Old Memories. London: Frontier Publishing, 2011.
Created 18 June 2016