University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/63776 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the Patronage of Contemporary Sculpture in Victorian Britain 1837-1901 Two Volumes: Volume 1 Eoin Martin A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Warwick, Department of History of Art December 2013 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Abbreviations 4 Acknowledgements 5 Declaration 6 List of Illustrations 7 Introduction 27 1. Victoria, Albert and Sculpture in the New Houses of Parliament 59 2. Sculpture in the Royal Residences, 1840-1861 121 3. Victoria and the Memorialisation of Albert, 1861-1874 185 4. Victoria’s Patronage of Sculpture, 1870-1901 246 Conclusion: Victorian Sculpture at the Edwardian Garden Party 303 Bibliography 1. Unpublished Primary Sources 310 2. Published Primary Sources 311 3. Published Secondary Sources 323 4. Unpublished Secondary Sources 355 2 Abstract Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-1861) have long loomed large in Victorian sculpture studies. Numerous scholars have examined the public statues of Victoria and Albert that were erected throughout the United Kingdom and across the British Empire between the 1840s and the 1920s. Yet, to date, the couple’s own patronage of sculpture has been largely overlooked. In light of this lacuna in the scholarship, this thesis examines the formation, display and dissemination of Victoria’s and Albert’s sculpture collection; explores the public sculpture projects with which they were involved; and analyses contemporary responses to their patronage. In so doing, it reveals what sculpture meant to Victoria and Albert personally; what their patronage meant to the contemporary sculpture profession; and what impact they had on the wider history and historiography of Victorian sculpture. The thesis is organised chronologically and broadly divided into three periods, representing three distinct but interrelated trends in the formation, arrangement, dissemination and reception of Victoria’s and Albert’s collection and the changing status of royal patronage. The first is the period between Victoria’s and Albert’s marriage in 1840 and Albert’s death in 1861. In this period, the couple’s patronage was prolific, varied and widely disseminated. They commissioned and acquired an extensive amount of sculpture for the royal residences and closely involved themselves with numerous public sculpture projects such as the sculpture programme in the New Houses of Parliament. This thesis demonstrates the complex imbrication of the couple’s public and private patronage of sculpture by revealing the extent to which their involvement with public projects informed their private patronage and the degree to which this fed into their public image as patrons. The second part looks at the decade after Albert’s death, a period in which Victoria concentrated her patronage almost exclusively on memorial busts and statues of him. Her various memorial commissions have often been treated interchangeably as simple indexes of her legendary grief. This thesis restores specificity to this body of memorial sculpture and uncovers the extent and sophistication of Victoria’s patronage in this period. However, it also shows the damage done to her reputation as a patron through her seemingly relentless desire to commission posthumous portraits of Albert. The third part concentrates on the last three decades of Victoria’s life. It reveals the extent to which she remained active as a patron and the degree to which her taste for sculpture evolved in the 1880s and 1890s. Yet, Victoria’s patronage was indelibly associated with mid- century sculptors whom Edmund Gosse, chief evangelist of ‘The New Sculpture’ dismissed as representative of ‘the dark age’ in the history of British sculpture. At a time when public statues of Victoria by some of the leading sculptors of the age were being erected across the globe, her position as a leading patron of contemporary sculpture was steadily undermined by the perception that she was stuck in the past. 3 Abbreviations HMI Henry Moore Institute LGC Lord Great Chamberlain NAL National Art Library RA Royal Archives RAA Royal Academy Archive 4 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for supporting my doctoral research. This thesis is part of the Displaying Victorian Sculpture project and I would particularly like to thank my fellow project members for their help, support and friendship: Desiree de Chaire, Charlotte Drew, Claire Jones and Gabriel Williams. Displaying Victorian Sculpture was conceived and co-directed by my supervisors, Michael Hatt and Jason Edwards. I would like to thank them for their unflinching support and ever thoughtful guidance. I would like to thank Philip McEvansoneya, Kathryn Milligan, Eimear O’Connor and Yvonne Scott, Trinity College Dublin, for their help with my studentship application. Over the course of my research, I have been assisted and supported by numerous academics, administrators, archivists, curators and librarians. Particular thanks to Jill Kelsey, Deputy Registrar of the Royal Archives. All quotations from the Royal Archives are by gracious permission of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II. I would also like to thank: Louise Bourdua, Julia Brown, Rosie Dias and Lorenzo Pericolo at the University of Warwick; Helen Jacobs and Sarah Turner at the University of York; Charles Henty at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey; Lisa Le Feuvre, Claire Mayoh, Ann Sproat and Jon Wood at the Henry Moore Institute; Melanie Unwin at the Houses of Parliament; Michael Hunter at Osborne House; Mark Pomeroy at the Royal Academy; Caroline de Guitaut, Lisa Heighway and Agata Rutkowska at the Royal Collection; Enid Davies at St George’s Chapel, Windsor; Pamela Bromley at Warwick Castle; and Amy Boyington at Woburn Abbey. Thanks must also go to the curatorial staff at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow; the National Museum, Cardiff; the Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen; the National Museums, Liverpool; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Finally, I would like to thank my friends for their love and support. Special thanks go to: Carolyn Conroy, Kirstin Donaldson, Alice Eden, Stephanie Lambert, Barbara Martin, Christine Murray, Sarah O’Farrell, Giulia Ni Dhulchaointigh, and Aoife Valentine. It is impossible to convey how much my family have helped me over the past three years so I will simply thank my parents, Anne and Lenny, my sister Sinead, and my nephew Joe, for their constant encouragement, kindness, love and support. This thesis is dedicated to my Nana, Annie Dennis, who was never given the opportunities I have been given but has never flinched in the love and devotion she has shown to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 5 Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and that it has not been submitted for a degree at another university. 6 List of Illustrations 1.1. ‘Cartoon No. 1: Substance and Shadow’, woodcut engraving, Punch, or the London Charivari (29 July 1843), p. 22. 1.2. ‘Punch’s Fine Art Exhibition of Designs for National Statues, Part One,’ Punch, or the London Charivari (20 July 1844), p. 26. 1.3. ‘Punch’s Fine Art Exhibition of Designs for National Statues, Part Two,’ Punch, or the London Charivari (20 July 1844), p. 26. 1.4. ‘Workmen Sculpting the Bosses on the Groined Roof of the Central Hall,’ Illustrated London News (18 March 1848), p. 190 1.5. ‘The New Palace at Westminster: Plan of Principal Floor,’ in Henry T. Ryde, Illustrations of the New Palace of Westminster (London: Warrington & Son, 1849), Pl. 2. 1.6. ‘Arms under Windows of Royal Gallery,’ in Henry T. Ryde, Illustrations of the New Palace of Westminster (London: Warrington & Son, 1849), Pl. 3. 1.7. John Thomas, statues on the facade of the Victoria Tower, Palace of Westminster, c. 1841-1849, Anstone limestone (Photograph: Eoin Martin). 1.8. ‘Progress of the New Houses of Parliament. Hoisting-Scaffold of the Victoria Tower,’ Illustrated London News (2 February 1850), p. 68. 1.9. Sovereign’s Entrance, Palace of Westminster (Parliamentary copyright image reproduced with the permission of Parliament). 1.10. Sovereign’s Entrance, Palace of Westminster (Parliamentary copyright image reproduced with the permission of Parliament). 7 1.11. John Thomas, Queen Victoria Flanked by Justice and Wisdom, c. 1841-1849, marble, dimensions unknown (Photograph: Melanie Unwin) (Parliamentary copyright image reproduced with the permission of Parliament). 1.12. ‘Opening of Parliament: Her Majesty’s Arrival at the Victoria Tower,’ Illustrated London News (7 February 1850), p. 120. 1.13. Sir Edwin Landseer, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Bal Cotumé of 12 May 1842, 1846, oil on canvas, 143 x 111.6 cm (Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013). 1.14. John Gibson, Queen Victoria Flanked by Justice and Clemency, 1849-1856, Prince’s Chamber, House of Lords, marble, h. 244 cm (central figure) (Photograph: Melanie Unwin) (Parliamentary copyright image reproduced with the permission of Parliament). 1.15. South side of the Prince’s Chamber, House of Lords (Photograph: Melanie Unwin) (Parliamentary copyright image reproduced with the permission of Parliament). 1.16. Cooke and Sons, (manufacturer), The Kenilwoth Buffet, c.1851, carved and polished oak, c. 300cm in diameter, Warwick Castle (Photograph: Pamela Bromley). 1.17. William Theed, The Murder of Rizzio, c. 1856, Prince’s Chamber, House of Lords, electroplated bronze, 76.32 x 81.41 cm (Maurice Bond (ed.), Works of Art in the House of Lords (H.M.S.O., 1980), Pl.