Kolkata,” by Brock

Queen Victoria

Sir Thomas Brock, K.C.B., R.A. 1847-1922

Marble, lifesize, on a marble pedestal

Unveiled by the Prince of Wales 1921

Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta (Kolkata), India

In 1901 the British Government announced that an imperial memorial to the recently deceased Queen Victoria would be erected in London and invited contributions from all British dominions and colonies. Characteristically, the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, decided that India should opt out and have its own Victoria Memorial in Calcutta, with the centrepiece a statue of the queen at the time of her accession. However, he did agree that the statue should be sculpted by Thomas Brock, who had been chosen as the sole sculptor of the Victoria Memorial in London. [Commentary continues below.]

Photograph taken, with thanks, from MIchael Janich's at Wikimedia Commons, where it is available under the Creative Commons license. It has been slightly modified. Click on it for a larger picture. text by John Sankey, and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. Mouse over the text for links.