Statue

Frieze of Parnassus - Milton

Erection date: 1872

Inscription

Milton

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.

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

Subjects commemorated i

John Milton

Poet, essayist, playwright, historian, and diplomat. Born in the house called...

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

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 - Milton

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Imperial Hotel - statue 21

Imperial Hotel - statue 21

WC1, Russell Square

On this site there used to be a sister hotel to Hotel Russell, also designed by Charles Fitzroy Doll and erected in 1898. It was demolish...

1 creator
Millais statue

Millais statue

SW1, John Islip Street

Millais helped found the Tate Gallery in the building behind. Peter Duby points out that this statue is unusual in that it incorporate...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
V&A façade - Stevens

V&A façade - Stevens

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
Brunel statue - Paddington

Brunel statue - Paddington

W2, Departure Road, Paddington Station

This belongs to the select group of seated London statues - see Peabody. The same sculptor has a standing statue of Brunel in Bristol, a...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
FCO - B unknown

FCO - B unknown

SW1, Horse Guards Road, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign Office was completed in 1873 to the 1861 designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, with Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt for the St James’s...

Previously viewed

Edward Foster, VC

Edward Foster, VC

Born in Streatham. He enlisted in the 13th Battalion (Wandsworth) East Surrey Regiment and was sent to France in June 1916. On 24th April 1917 at Villiers-Plouich, his troop's advance was held up ...

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
2 memorials
John Christopher Smith

John Christopher Smith

W1, Carlisle Street, 6

The dates on the plaque confuse Smith (1712 - 1795) with his father, Johann Christoph Schmidt (1683–1762/3), also confusingly later known...

1 subject commemorated
Henry Philip Creese

Henry Philip Creese

Deck Engineer on the RMS Titanic. A résumé of his life can be found on the Encyclopedia Titanica website. He is also commemorated on the Engineers Memorial, Andrews East Park, Above Bar Street, Sou...

Person, Engineering, Tragedy

1 memorial