Statue

Frieze of Parnassus - Homer

Erection date: 1872

Inscription

Homer

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

SW7, Kensington Road

The monument, 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.

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.

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

Subjects commemorated i

Homer

Ancient Greek poet. Wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, which date from somewhe...

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

Created by i

Henry Hugh Armstead

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

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

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Whittington statue - Felbridge

Whittington statue - Felbridge

RH19, Eastbourne Road, Whittington College

Slightly smaller than life-size, we believe this statue was created by John Carew sometime between 1844 and the 1851 Great Exhibition or ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Edward VI statue at St Thomas's - Cartwright

Edward VI statue at St Thomas's - Cartwright

SE1, St Thomas's Hospital, St Thomas's Hospital

This 1682 statue by Cartwright was commissioned by Clayton and was originally at the centre of a group of figures which formed a frontisp...

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
King's Cross statue of George IV

King's Cross statue of George IV

N1, Gray's Inn Road, King's Cross junction

Our image (1835 by George Sidney Shepherd) comes from View from the Mirror where you can find an introduction to the history of the King'...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Imperial Hotel - statue 12 - Cromwell

Imperial Hotel - statue 12 - Cromwell

WC1, Russell Square

The fur collar, the cap . . . Surely this statue is the man in the Cromwell portrait.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Chopin statue

Chopin statue

SE1, Royal Festival Hall

The statue is said to contain an urn with earth from Chopin's birthplace in Poland. Princess Alice unveiled the statue in 1975, and her ...

2 subjects commemorated, 5 creators