Doe and Hope

Description

Later painted in a lurid green, now chipped and distressed, the three quarter bust of Queen Victoria in ceremonial garb, small diamond crown and bejeweled necklace is on a circular plinth base.

There are several areas of loss but nothing that makes the bust less attractive. The later paint looks around twenty to thirty years old and the sculpture has a pleasing heavy weight to it.

Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. Her reign of 63 years and 7 months, which is longer than that of any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history, is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire.

There was a implication from the vendor that this bust came from a showman’s yard, so there is a fairground connection, perhaps Queen Vic sat in his wagon or on one of the stalls.

Very suggestive, both through the depicted persona of the Queen herself but also the evocative later paintwork this is a superbly decorative piece of sculpture.