Sculpture of the Day: A Figure of Queen Victoria in Classical Robes, 1847

Queen Victoria
John Gibson, 1847
The Royal Collection

Symbols of royal power are long-seated in tradition. Very often, to show the permanence of power, an artist will return to Classical ideals in creating a portrait of a monarch. Such was the case with this life-size portrait sculpture of Queen Victoria. Sculpted in 1847 by John Gibson, this lovely statue in the Classical Greek style was cut from fine, pure-white marble which was, then, painted in the polychrome color-scheme thought to have been typical of ancient Greek sculptures.


Overtime, the over-painting was removed, and what remains is a very striking portrait of the woman who was once the most powerful in the world—in the style and pose of everlasting royalty.