Queen Victoria's statue in Bangalore - a fine piece of work by Thomas Brock, British sculptor

Queen Victoria's statue, Bangalore deccanherald.com

Queen Victoria's statue, Cubbon park, Bangalore. commons wikipedia org

After the demise of Queen Victoria in January 1911 about 50 high quality statues appeared across India to honor the female monarch who reigned the British empire for a pretty long time. They were commissioned by prominent people, rulers, etc., in the domains. Invariably, many of them appeared in the princely states as the Maharajah and the princes had a good relationship with the British royalty. Some statues were erected by the Raj such as the one in Delhi and the other one in Victoria Hall, Kolkata.

The statue of Queen Victoria in the Cubbon Park of Bangaluru is an interesting one. The huge statue made from high quality marble with minute details was officially unveiled on February 5, 1906 by the then Prince of Wales & Duke of Cornwall & York (later king George V), Unfortunately, since India's freedom in 1947, many statues including Victoria's have a permanent home within the confines of museum across the country. This was done to avoid vandalism.

With respect to Victoria's statues in India except five the rest 45 are in the museums. The five still remain at their original locations. The opening ceremony at Bangalore was a gala one attended by local dignitaries. Fanfare and oratory marked the function.

English sculptor Thomas Brock.en.wikipedia.org/

The Prince of Wales was on a long tour to India and other places. Quite pleased with the Bangalore statue, the Prince implied in his speech that this statue of the late queen empress would not have been possible but for the cooperation of the ruler of Mysore, his subjects and the officers of the military station there. Part of Bangalore was a cantonment then. The Maharajah of Mysore made a generous contribution toward the erection of the statue in the park. The ruler of Mysore preferred a statue over a technical institution to commemorate the memory of the late queen. Public subscription in the name of Victoria memorial Fund was not good enough, so the Maharajah Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV came up a big sum to complete the project within a given time.

Statue of queen, Victoria Square, Birminghamen,England..wikipedia.org

Thom's Brock (1 March 1847 – 22 August 1922) , a popular sculptor in England whose most famous work was the Victoria Memorial in front of the Buckingham Palace in London was entrusted with the job and he made a large marble statue measuring 11 feet tall for Bangalore and a 13 foot granite pedestal. The total cost was about Rs. 25,500. and the statue carefully shipped from England and it arrived here in July 1905.

Sculptor Brock also received orders for statues of the empress from Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow! It is said that the one at Bangalore is a replica of the empress' statue which Brock made earlier for his home town Worcester in England in 1890. Brock paid particular attentions to details of her dress, scepter, etc. Her flowing dress with robes decorated with roses and tassels, holding of a scepter, her inquisitive eyes looking downward, gentle tilt of her head, etc., all add up to the mhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Brockajesty of a tough-looking queen. Brock made 14 Victoria statues during his career and many of them are similar in terms of size, dress and look.

The present statue in Bangalore has to be saved from further wilting due to aging. The queen's regalia appears to be dull and faded besides the queen's orb is lost and the scepter broken. In the pretty old photos one could see the statue encircled with ornamental chains, and a soldier and two cannons as if they were guarding the empress. They were gone long ago. They are a sort of imperial symbol of pride and in the modern society, they have no room.

https://www.deccanherald.com/content/309829/empress-all-she-surveys.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Brock