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List of public art in Belgravia

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This is a list of public art in Belgravia, a district in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. The area is mainly composed of early 19th-century residential buildings, many of which now serve diplomatic uses.[1] Several of the figures commemorated here were influential in the early development of Belgravia under the ownership of the Grosvenor family (later the Dukes of Westminster). Belgrave Square, which gives the locale its name,[2] has a particularly high number of embassies; its public sculptures are therefore of a pronounced international character.[3]

Map of public art in Belgravia

City of Westminster

[edit]
Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Artist / designer Architect / other Type Designation Notes

More images 		Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster Memorial Drinking Fountain Junction of Pimlico Road and Avery Farm Row

51°29′28″N 0°09′01″W / 51.4911°N 0.1503°W / 51.4911; -0.1503 (Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster Memorial Drinking Fountain) 		1870 c. 1870 Salviati (mosaics) Thomas Henry Wyatt Drinking fountain Grade II An Italian Renaissance-style drinking fountain of Portland stone and granite, with mosaic panels.[4][5][6]
Obelisk Walden House, Pimlico Road

51°29′28″N 0°09′03″W / 51.4912°N 0.1507°W / 51.4912; -0.1507 (Obelisk) 		c. 1930 Arnrid Johnston — Sculptural group Grade II A three-sided sculptural group (badly weathered on two sides) of children playing, with a base depicting groups of animals in the round, all in Portland stone. The critic Kineton Parkes considered this to be Johnson's most important work.[7]

More images 		Fountainhead Halkin Arcade

51°29′58″N 0°09′26″W / 51.4994°N 0.1573°W / 51.4994; -0.1573 (Fountainhead) 		1971 Geoffrey Wickham — Sculpture — Commissioned by Sotheby's, this work won the Royal British Society of Sculptors' Silver Medal in 1972 for the most distinguished new sculpture in London.[8][9]

More images 		Statue of Simón Bolívar Belgrave Square

51°29′57″N 0°09′08″W / 51.4992°N 0.1522°W / 51.4992; -0.1522 (Statue of Simón Bolívar) 		1974 Hugo Daini — Statue — Unveiled by James Callaghan, then Foreign Secretary, and the Venezuelan president Rafael Caldera. The statue of Bolívar in London is said to represent him as a maker of constitutions, in contrast to those in Madrid, Rome and Paris, which are equestrian. The quotation on the pedestal stresses his admiration for British institutions: I am convinced that England alone is capable of protecting the world's precious rights as she is great, glorious and wise.[10]

More images 		Great Flora L Chesham Place

51°29′52″N 0°09′17″W / 51.4977°N 0.1548°W / 51.4977; -0.1548 (Great Flora L) 		1978 Fritz Koenig — Sculpture — The sculpture stands outside the extension to the German Embassy, with which it is contemporary.[11] It was conceived as "a fragile 'call-sign' in the heart of the surging metropolis".[12] Flora I, a work by the same artist, is in the garden of the German Chancellery in Berlin.[13]

More images 		Hercules Ormonde Place

51°29′27″N 0°09′14″W / 51.4909°N 0.1539°W / 51.4909; -0.1539 (Hercules) 		1981 ? — Statue — A small, bronze replica of the Farnese Hercules. Pedestal inscribed HERCULES/ THIS STATUE IS EXHIBITED/ BY WATES LIMITED/ MAY 1981.

More images 		Homage to Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci 		Belgrave Square Gardens 1982 Enzo Plazzotta and Mark Holloway — Sculpture — Based on Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man. Completed by Holloway, Plazzotta's studio assistant, after the elder sculptor's death in 1981. Funded by the American construction magnate John M. Harbert.[14]

More images 		Statue of Christopher Columbus Belgrave Square

51°29′55″N 0°09′13″W / 51.4985°N 0.1536°W / 51.4985; -0.1536 (Statue of Christopher Columbus) 		1992 Tomás Bañuelos — Statue — Given by the people of Spain in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage. His birth date is mistakenly given as 1446 on the pedestal.[15]

More images 		Statue of José de San Martín Belgrave Square

51°30′00″N 0°09′13″W / 51.5000°N 0.1535°W / 51.5000; -0.1535 (Statue of José de San Martín) 		1994 Juan Carlos Ferraro — Statue — A gift of the Anglo-Argentine community in Argentina, unveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh.[16] San Martín is depicted in general's uniform with his bicorne hat held casually in his right hand, while in his left he holds a trailing sword below the hilt. An inscription reads His name represents democracy, justice and liberty.[17]

More images 		Statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Orange Square, corner of Ebury Street and Pimlico Road

51°29′27″N 0°09′10″W / 51.4908°N 0.1529°W / 51.4908; -0.1529 (Statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) 		1994 Philip Jackson — Statue — The composer is portrayed at the age of eight, when he stayed at 180 Ebury Street for the summer and autumn of 1764; he wrote his first two symphonies there. The statue was proposed to mark the bicentenary of Mozart's death in 1991.[18]

More images 		Statue of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster Wilton Crescent

51°30′01″N 0°09′14″W / 51.5004°N 0.1538°W / 51.5004; -0.1538 (Statue of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster) 		1998 Jonathan Wylder — Statue — The developer of Belgravia is shown studying plans of the area, his foot resting on a milestone inscribed CHESTER/ 197/ MILES, a reference to his estate at Eaton Hall in Cheshire. On either side sit two talbots, the supporters from his coat of arms.[19] An inscription on the pedestal reads WHEN WE BUILD, LET US THINK WE BUILD FOR EVER‍—‌a slight misquotation from John Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849).[20]
Armillary sphere Belgrave Square Gardens 2000 ? — Armillary sphere — A gift from the Duke of Westminster to mark the beginning of the third millennium. The inscription on the rim is taken from William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence" (1803): To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.[21]

More images 		Statue of Henry the Navigator Belgrave Square

51°29′57″N 0°09′17″W / 51.4992°N 0.1548°W / 51.4992; -0.1548 (Statue of Henry the Navigator) 		2002 José Simões de Almeida — Statue — Unveiled 12 February 2002 by Jorge Sampaio, the President of Portugal.[22] A cast of a statue in Vila Franca do Campo on São Miguel Island, erected in 1932 to commemorate the quincentenary of the arrival of the Portuguese to the Azores.[23] The Portuguese Embassy is at 11 Belgrave Square.[24]
Bust of George Basevi Belgrave Square Gardens

51°29′56″N 0°09′10″W / 51.4989°N 0.1529°W / 51.4989; -0.1529 (Bust of George Basevi) 		2002 Jonathan Wylder — Bust — Basevi was responsible for the design and construction of Belgrave Square in 1825–1840.[25][26]
Water's Murmur Kinnerton Street 2009 Julian Stocks KSS Perforated steel screen — A map of London, this commemorates the "lost" River Westbourne, whose course runs under the street.[27][28]


Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

[edit]
Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Artist / designer Architect / other Type Designation Notes

More images 		The Jeeves Ladies Outside Jeeves shop, Pont Street 1974 Kate McGill — Sculptural group — Based on the logo, depicting two gossiping Edwardian ladies out shopping, designed by Derrick Holmes for the dry cleaning firm Jeeves of Belgravia. Holmes also produced the maquette for the sculpture.[29]


References

[edit]
  1. ^ Belgravia Conservation Area General Information Leaflet (PDF). Westminster City Council, Department of Planning and City Development. May 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  2. ^ Bradley & Pevsner 2003, p. 727.
  3. ^ Kershman 2013, p. 271.
  4. ^ Historic England. "Fountain on East Side of Junction with Avery Farm Row (1265617)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  5. ^ Bradley & Pevsner 2003, p. 750.
  6. ^ "Marquess of Westminster Memorial Fountain". The Salviati Architectural Mosaic Database. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  7. ^ Fraser 2014, pp. 370–371.
  8. ^ Duncan, Clive (23 May 2005). "Obituary: Geoffrey Wickham". The Independent. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  9. ^ Discover a History: Walking in Belgravia—A guided walk through the heart of Belgravia (PDF). Grosvenor. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2015.
  10. ^ Blackwood 1989, p. 238.
  11. ^ "Chesham Place". London Gardens Online. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  12. ^ The Chancery and the Ambassador's Residence. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, London. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  13. ^ Westminster City Council 2013, p. 79.
  14. ^ "Vitruvian man". London Remembers. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  15. ^ Asprey & Bullus 2009, p. 26.
  16. ^ Asprey & Bullus 2009, p. 91.
  17. ^ Westminster City Council 2013, pp. 77–78.
  18. ^ "Appeals: Mozart Bicentenary Statue Appeal". The Independent. 15 May 1993. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  19. ^ Matthews 2018, p. 149.
  20. ^ "Robert Grosvenor". Daily Photo Stream. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  21. ^ "Memorial: Start of the third Millennium in Belgrave Square". London Remembers. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  22. ^ Discurso do Presidente da República por ocasião da Inauguração da Estátua do Infante D. Henrique (Versão em Inglês). Presidência da República Portuguesa. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  23. ^ "Estátua do Infante de Sagres". Igogo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  24. ^ Embassy of Portugal in the United Kingdom. Governo de Portugal. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  25. ^ Westminster City Council 2013, pp. 78–79.
  26. ^ Kershman 2013, p. 283.
  27. ^ Mansfield, Ian (9 June 2023). "London Public Art: Water's Murmur by Julian Stocks". ianVisits. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  28. ^ "Water's Murmur 1". Julian Stocks Public Art. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  29. ^ Chelsea Old Town Hall to Knightsbridge. Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. p. 16. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2012.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Asprey, Ronald; Bullus, Claire (2009). The Statues of London. London and New York: Merrell. ISBN 978-1858944722.
  • Blackwood, John (1989). London's Immortals: The Complete Outdoor Commemorative Statues. London and Oxford: Savoy Press. ISBN 978-0951429600.
  • Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2003). London 6: Westminster. The Buildings of England. London and New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09595-1.
  • Fraser, Inga (2014). "The 'English Independents': Some twentieth-century women carvers". Sculpture Journal. 23 (3): 369–78. doi:10.3828/sj.2015.8.
  • Matthews, Peter (2018). London's Statues and Monuments. Oxford: Shire Publications. ISBN 978-1-78442-256-1.
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