Statue

Frieze of Parnassus - Purcell

Erection date: 1872

Inscription

Purcell

Site: Albert Memorial & The Frieze of Parnassus (52 memorials)

SW7, Kensington Road

The monument, officially titled the Prince Consort National Memorial, celebrates Victorian achievement and Prince Albert's passions and interests. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria and designed by George Gilbert Scott, was built 1864-72, and the statue of Albert was installed in 1875. Even for a Victorian edifice the excess of decoration is extraordinary - we suspect the design suffered mission creep.

Marble figures representing Europe, Asia, Africa and America stand at each corner of the memorial. Each of these groups comprises an animal typical of that continent and a few noble but stereotypical people from the region.

On the Frieze of Parnassus are depicted 168 men, 1 woman and two dogs, gender unknown. The woman is Nitocris, a historically questionable pharaoh who, it is claimed, built the third pyramid at Giza.

The men are segregated by field of fame. Reading anticlockwise from the south-west corner: Armstead carved the south and east sides, populated with musicians, poets, musicians, painters, grouped by nationality; Philip carved the north and west sides with architects and sculptors, cleverly arranged chronologically so that the Egyptian architects turn the corner in the same space with Egyptian sculptors.

Remarkably the whole Frieze was carved on site. In the selection of the figures, only one exception to the "must be dead" rule was allowed: George Gilbert Scott himself. Actually only 167 men are represented, one of them twice: Michelangelo as a painter and again as a sculptor. The dogs are Hogarth's Trump and a generic greyhound associated with Veronese.

Normally one cannot get close enough to the Frieze to take satisfactory photos but in May 2017 we joined a tour of the monument which gave us the proximity needed. We photographed all the figures in the Frieze but have decided to publish only (with a few exceptions) those already on London Remembers. Many of the others are little-known outside their field and have no connection to London. See Wikipedia for the entire list and some good photos of the whole Frieze.

The monument has many other figures of an allegorical nature, which are well covered at The Library Time Machine. Another page at the Library Time Machine has some interesting photos of the monument under construction.

Ian Visits managed to get a tour of the usually inaccessible undercroft, the structure that supports this monument.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Frieze of Parnassus - Purcell

Subjects commemorated i

Henry Purcell

Organist and composer. Born St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street, Westminster, c. 10...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Frieze of Parnassus - Purcell

Created by i

Henry Hugh Armstead

Sculptor and illustrator. Born Bloomsbury. Executed a large number of public ...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Frieze of Parnassus - Purcell

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

V&A façade - Morris

V&A façade - Morris

SW7, Cromwell Road

Excluding the allegories (such as Knowledge) there are 36 statues on the two public façades of the V&A Museum, on Exhibition Road and...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Holborn Viaduct - Myddelton

Holborn Viaduct - Myddelton

EC4, Holborn Viaduct

The sculptor has a page about this statue and its creation with some interesting photos.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Lord Portal

Lord Portal

SW1, Victoria Embankment, Victoria Embankment Gardens - Whitehall section

Unveiled by Harold Macmillan.

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Florence Nightingale - statue

Florence Nightingale - statue

SW1, Waterloo Place

In 1859 only the Guards Memorial was erected, closer to Pall Mall. In 1914 this was moved back to make room for the two statues in front.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Colonial Office - S13 - H. Grey

Colonial Office - S13 - H. Grey

SW1, Whitehall, Foreign Office

Statues Hither and Thither has been invaluable in identifying some of the busts and most of the statues. The statues are not labelled and...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators

Previously viewed

Mary Watts

Mary Watts

Born as Mary Seton Fraser Tytler in India but brought up in Scotland. 1886 married G. F. Watts. Co-founded the Compton Potters' Arts Guild and the Arts & Crafts Guild in Compton, Surrey. There ...

Person, Craft / Design, India, Scotland

37 memorials
Anne Brontë

Anne Brontë

Novelist and poet.  Born Yorkshire.  Youngest member of the Bonte literary family.  Novels: 'Agnes Grey', 'Tenant of Wildfell Hall'.  See Charlotte Brontë for more.

Person, Literature

1 memorial