Thomas Woolner (1825-1892)
Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1883 (see Woolner 343)
Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham
This statue stands facing one of Prince Albert, by John Henry Foley, on the half-landing of the main stairs of Birmingham's grand municipal building or "Council House." The commission for the statue was given to Woolner after Foley died before he could produce the companion piece to Albert (see Read 75; the same thing happened with the statue of John Stuart Mill on the Embankment in London). To complement her spouse, Woolner shows the Queen of an age with Albert, or looking even younger, although by now she was well into her sixties. Carlo Marochetti's effigy of the queen in the mausoleum at Frogmore is similarly matched with Albert, as if time had stood still for her since his death.
Photographs, commentary and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2012.
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