Statue

V&A façade - Gibbons

Erection date: 1909

Inscription

Grinlg. Gibbons

Site: Victoria & Albert Museum façade (38 memorials)

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 Cromwell Road. This building was designed by Aston Webb and built 1899-1909. Each statue has the subject's name on a label beneath the feet and the sculptor's name inscribed in the wall of the niche to the right of the statue. Starting in Cromwell Road and reading right to left:

Group of 6 British architects:
Chas. Barry
W. Chambers
Chrisr. Wren
Inigo Jones
John Thorpe
Wykeham

Group of 5 British painters:
J. E. Millais
Ld. Leighton
G. F. Watts
J. Constable
J. M. W. Turner

And flanking the entrance:
Queen Alexandra (to the right)
King Edward VII (to the left)

Albert (below the arch)
Victoria (in the arch)

On either side of the arch, at eye level there is a foundation stone:
Stone laid by Edward VII (to the right)
Stone laid by Victoria (to the left)

Group of 5 British painters:
R. Cosway
G. Romney
T. Gainsborough
J. Reynolds
W. Hogarth

Group of 6 British sculptors:
Alfred Stevens
John H. Foley
F. L. Chantrey
John Flaxman
John Bacon
Grinlg. Gibbons

And around the corner in Exhibition Road:

Group of 5 British craftsmen:
William Morris
Roger Payne
J. Wedgwood
T. Chippendale
Thos. Tompion

Group of 5 British craftsmen:
Huntingn. Shaw
George Heriot
William Caxton
William Torel
St. Dunstan

Note that there are more Johns than women but that's not difficult since, excluding royalty, there are no women!

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
V&A façade - Gibbons

Subjects commemorated i

Grinling Gibbons

Born Rotterdam. Wood carver and sculptor. Other works in London: a marble fon...

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
V&A façade - Gibbons

Created by i

W. S. Frith

Sculptor. William Silver Frith. Born Leicester. Other London work: Metropolit...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
V&A façade - Gibbons

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Sir George White

Sir George White

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{On both sides of the plinth:} Field-Marshal Sir George Stuart White, V.C., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O. Born 1...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Sidney Herbert - statue

Sidney Herbert - statue

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This statue was made in 1866 and erected in front of the War Office, then at Cumberland House, Pall Mall (now replaced with 89, the RAC b...

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St Dunstans - Elizabeth I statue

St Dunstans - Elizabeth I statue

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On stone above QE's statue: "Parochial Schools. St Dunstan in the west. A.D.1839." The history of this statue (and those of King Lud and ...

1 subject commemorated, 5 creators
Catherine Booth statue - Mile End

Catherine Booth statue - Mile End

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When we first visited in 2014 William's statue was looking very pale - showing its fibreglass material. In 2017 it had been re-bronzed an...

3 subjects commemorated, 3 creators