Statue on the Italian terraces at Crystal Palace, south-east London (c.1854)

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Along the balustrade stand several figures from the original row of allegorical statues representing different countries. They have been badly vandalised. One is just the lower part of a figure and another is a female figure in robes, without a head; but another, standing next to the impressively wide main steps, has been described as a "reasonably complete male figure, standing, robed, with a turban, beard and cloak thrown back over his shoulders and hands clasped in front of him" ("Row of Statues along Terrace"). This one's robes, like the eyes of a sphinx at the end of the terraces nearest the Crystal Palace Museum, retain some (possibly) original colouring. This figure has been identified as representing Turkey, and attributed to Baron Carlo Marochetti ("Statues in Crystal Palace Park") Certainly the contemporary guide to the Crystal Palace at Sydenham "referred to Marochetti's Turkey, Greece, India and Egypt" as having been commissioned for the Upper Terrace (qtd. by Piggott 120). It seems unfortunate that this one, which has survived relatively intact, should not now be better known and preserved. As for the remnants of colour, Marochetti, like John Gibson, "promoted sculptural polychromy" (Ward-Jackson).

Reference

Piggott, Jan R. Palace of the People: The Crystal Palace at Sydenham, 1854-1936. London: Hurst, 2004.

"Row of Statues along the Terrace" (Public Monuments and Sculptures Association site.) Web. 19 Nov. 2010.

"Statues in Crystal Palace Park" (Sydenham Town Forum site). Web. 19 Nov. 2010.

Ward-Jackson, Philip. "(Pietro) Carlo Giovanni Battista Marochetti." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.

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Last modified 19 November 2010