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Physical Energy (sculpture)

1902 sculpturesBronze sculptures in South AfricaBronze sculptures in ZimbabweBronze sculptures in the United KingdomEquestrian statues in the United Kingdom
Statues in South Africa
Cape Town Rhodes memorial energy statue
Cape Town Rhodes memorial energy statue

Physical Energy is a bronze equestrian statue by English artist George Frederic Watts. Watts was principally a painter, but also worked on sculptures from the 1870s. Physical Energy was first cast in 1902, two years before his death, and was intended to be Watts's memorial to "unknown worth". Watts said it was a symbol of "that restless physical impulse to seek the still unachieved in the domain of material things". The original plaster maquette is at the Watts Gallery, and there are four full-size bronze casts: one in London, one in Cape Town, one in Harare and one soon to be sited at Watts Gallery - Artists' Village in Compton, Surrey. Other smaller bronze casts were also made after Watts's death.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Physical Energy (sculpture) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Physical Energy (sculpture)
Lancaster Walk, City of Westminster Bayswater

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N 51.5068 ° E -0.1783 °
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Equestrian statue "Physical Energy"

Lancaster Walk
W2 3HJ City of Westminster, Bayswater
England, United Kingdom
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royalparks.org.uk

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Cape Town Rhodes memorial energy statue
Cape Town Rhodes memorial energy statue
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Frieze of Parnassus
Frieze of Parnassus

The Frieze of Parnassus is a large sculpted stone frieze encircling the podium, or base, of the Albert Memorial in London, England. The Albert Memorial was constructed in the 1860s in memory of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. The frieze is named after Mount Parnassus, the favorite resting place in Ancient Greek mythology for the muses. It contains 169 life-size full-length sculptures, a mixture of low-relief and high-relief, of individual composers, architects, poets, painters, and sculptors from history. The depictions of earlier figures necessarily, were imaginary, although many of the figures were based on materials contained in a collection of artworks and drawings gathered for the purpose of ensuring authentic depictions, where this was possible. The total length of the frieze is approximately 64 metres (210 feet). The frieze was intended to be the 'soul' of the memorial, and the memorial's designer, George Gilbert Scott, stated that he was inspired by the Hémicycle des Beaux Arts by Paul Delaroche. The memorial was not laid out precisely to directions of the compass, however, closely enough that the sides are referred to by direction. Musicians and poets were placed on the south side, with painters on the east side, sculptors on the west side, and architects on the north side. Henry Hugh Armstead carved the figures on the south and east sides, the painters, musicians, and poets (80 in total), and grouped them by national schools. John Birnie Philip carved the figures on the west and north sides, the sculptors and architects (89 named figures, plus two generic figures), and arranged them in chronological order. The carving was executed in situ, and was said by Scott to be "perhaps one of the most laborious works of sculpture ever undertaken". The initial contracts, agreed around 1864, had specified that the work was to be completed in four years for £7,781 15s. The eventual cost, however, exceeded this by some £2,000 and the work was not finished until 1872. Large groups of figures of eminent persons from the past often decorate public buildings and monuments of the later nineteenth century, and some buildings such as the Walhalla temple in Bavaria and the Panthéon in Paris were dedicated to this purpose. Many figures of visual artists decorate the Victoria and Albert Museum close to the Albert Memorial at the other end of the "Albertopolis" complex. A mosaic frieze of more generalised figures from the arts runs round the circular Royal Albert Hall adjacent to the memorial. The Parnassus by Raphael (1511), opposite the philosophers of The School of Athens in the Vatican Raphael Rooms, is an earlier group portrait of great artists.

Statue of Edward Jenner, London
Statue of Edward Jenner, London

A statue of Edward Jenner, the physician, scientist and pioneer of the world's first vaccine, is located in Kensington Gardens in London. A work of the sculptor William Calder Marshall, the bronze was originally unveiled by Albert, Prince Consort in Trafalgar Square on 17 May 1858, before being moved to its present location in 1862. It is a Grade II listed building.The statue depicts Jenner in a seated position with one hand holding papers and is upon a plinth of Portland stone with Jenner's surname inscribed on a front panel of Aberdeen granite. At the base of the plinth is the inscription 'W. Calder Marshall, R. A. Sculpt. 1858'. A descriptive bronze plaque is set into the ground in front of the statue and it reads: Edward Jenner, MD, FRS, 1749–1823, country doctor who benefited mankind. In Jenner's time smallpox was a dreaded disease worldwide and caused many deaths particularly of children. Survivors were left badly scarred and often blinded or deformed. In 1796 Jenner vaccinated James Phipps with cowpox and showed that the boy was then immune to smallpox. He predicted the worldwide eradication of smallpox. This was finally achieved in 1980. Jenner was born, practised and died in Berkeley, Gloucestershire and studied at St. George's Hospital, London. This statue by William Calder Marshall RA was inaugurated by Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, and was the first to be erected in Kensington Gardens in 1862. The cost was met by international subscription. In 1853, the year that United Kingdom legislated for compulsory vaccination, the sculptor Calder Marshall gained attention from the medical community for his bust of Jenner which was shown at The Great Exhibition in1851, and a public fund to establish a London memorial was launched. International donations were generous, but the British public were less supportive, and Caldwell Marshall was left 'seriously out of pocket'. Despite this, the finished statue, unveiled by Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, was a 'triumph for the vaccinationist cause'.The prominent memorial was opposed by anti-vaccinationists, but even more strongly by the military, as Trafalgar Square, in 1858, only included statues of notable military figures. As a newspaper at the time suggested '...the veterans of the Horse Guards and Admiralty were scandalised at the idea of a mere civilian, a doctor, having a place in such distinguished company, and moreover daring to be seated while his betters were standing'.Despite calls by The Times, and in Parliament, for Jenner's statue to be moved, with royal support it remained in place until two months after the death of the Prince Consort in December, 1861. In 1862, commenting on events, the British Medical Journal compared the military statues to Jenner, and noted that they remained in Trafalgar Square 'because they killed their fellow creatures whereas he only saved them'.A proposal to return the statue to a more prominent location was suggested in a letter to The Times in 1923, and again in 1937. In 2010, the 30th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox that began with Jenner's vaccine, a new campaign to return the statue to Trafalgar Square began.

Lancaster Gate
Lancaster Gate

Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the Bayswater district of central London, immediately to the north of Kensington Gardens. It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them opening onto a square containing a church. Further terraces back onto the pair overlooking the park and loop around the square. Until 1865 the terraces were known as Upper Hyde Park Gardens, with the name Lancaster Gate limited to the square surrounding the church. The development takes its name from Lancaster Gate, a nearby entrance to Kensington Gardens, itself named in honour of Queen Victoria as Duke of Lancaster.The terraces are stuccoed and are in an eclectic classical style featuring English Baroque details and French touches. The church, known as Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, was an asymmetrical gothic composition with a needle spire. The architects were F. & H. Francis. The church was one of the most well known in London, but when dry rot was discovered in the roof the decision was taken to demolish most of the building and redevelop the site. The last service in the church was on 6 March 1977, and demolition began on 15 August 1977; only the tower and spire survive. The rest of the building was replaced by a housing scheme called Spire House in 1983.Lancaster Gate stands alongside Hyde Park Gardens as one of the two grandest of the 19th-century housing schemes lining the northern side of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The development was planned in 1856–57 on the site of a nursery and tea gardens, and construction took at least 10 years. The terraces overlooking the park were designed by Sancton Wood and those around the square by John Johnson. The exteriors are largely complete, with just a couple of 20th-century infills, but many of the interiors have been reconstructed behind the facades. Many of the properties are still in residential use and command very high prices. Others are used as embassies (such as the Embassy of Costa Rica), offices, or hotels. For many years, the headquarters of The Football Association were located in Lancaster Gate and the term was often used as a metonym for the organisation, but it later relocated to Soho Square and is now based at Wembley Stadium.Lancaster Gate is also an electoral ward of Westminster City Council. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,195.