Monument to Queen Victoria

Monument à la reine Victoria | Art Public Montréal | Ten years after Victoria Square was created, a visit by a member of the royal family, Prince Arthur, afforded the opportunity to launch a public subscription for the purpose of erecting a monument to Queen Victoria in the square named after her. The commission was awarded to the London sculptor Marshall Wood. The artist portrayed Victoria in 1837, when she was ascending to the throne at age 18. Unlike models inspired by classicism, in which royal figures were portrayed as divinities invested with superhuman powers, Wood presents a head of state who is slender, even fragile, in a pose that is simple and solemn. This portrayal of Victoria corresponds perfectly to the symbol of dignity that the queen embodied for her subjects. She is adorned with her royal attributes: she wears the royal crown with five lilies, an element that recalls that France ruled England for centuries. In her dignified pose, she carries in her left hand, at chest height, a laurel crown, and her right hand bears her sceptre, a symbol of royalty. This monument was the second commemorative monument erected in Montreal, after the Nelson column (1809).