Engineering by John Lawlor. Completed 1876; restored 2000. Marble. Albert Memorial. Architect: Sir George Gilbert Scott. Hyde Park, London SW7. [Click on these images to enlarge them.]
The ancient predecessors of modern engineers and engineering depicted are from left to right (a) Hiram, the King of Tyre who “sent Solomon architects, workmen and cedar wood to build the First Temple in Jerusalem” and who enlarged Tyre “by joining the two islands on which it was built;” (b) Bezaleel, the chief architect of the Tabernacle (see Exodus 31:1-6); (c) Sennacherib, the eighth-century BC Assyrian ruler who carried out extensive building projects; (d) Nitocris (seated), the Babylonian queen who, according to Herodotus, diverted the Euphrates, and (e) Cheops (or Khufu), the second pharaoh of Egypt's Old Kingdom, who reigned from 2589 to 2566 BC, and is credited with having built the Great Pyramid at Giza (Wikipedia).
Related Material — other sculptural groups symbolizing the “useful arts”
- Agriculture (William Calder Marshall)
- Commerce (Thomas Thornycroft)
- Manufactures (Henry Weekes)
- The Great Engineers of the Ancient World frieze (H. H. Armstead)
Photographs (2006) by Robert Freidus. Formatting, caption, and perspective correction by George P. Landow. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Baker, Margaret. Discovering London’s Statues and Monuments. 2nd Edition. Shire Publishing Ltd, 1480.
Byron, Arthur. London Statues. London: Constable, 1481.
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1482.
Content last modified 2 September 2011
Reformatted 16 March 2015