List of public art in Hyde Park, London

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Detail of the Wellington Monument

This is a list of public art in Hyde Park, London.

A Royal Park since 1536, Hyde Park covers an area of over 350 acres.[1] Its present landscaping dates largely to the 18th century, when Queen Caroline introduced the Serpentine among other features, and to the 1820s, when Decimus Burton made improvements including the park's triumphal entrance at Wellington Arch.[2] In the immediate vicinity of the arch, at Hyde Park Corner, there is a significant concentration of war memorials.

Map

Hyde Park[edit]

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date Artist / designer Architect / other Type Designation Notes
Dell Megalith The Dell

51°30′16″N 0°09′33″W / 51.5044°N 0.1592°W / 51.5044; -0.1592 (Dell Megalith)
1861 John Thomas Former drinking fountain The remains of a drinking fountain originally formed of several large blocks of granite, possibly quarried at Moorswater, Cornwall. This became defunct in 1887 and only a single stone was still standing by 1900.[3]

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Boy and Dolphin Rose Garden, South Carriage Drive

51°30′13″N 0°09′17″W / 51.5036°N 0.1546°W / 51.5036; -0.1546 (Boy with Dolphin)
1863 Alexander Munro Fountain with sculpture Grade II Moved in 1962 from Hyde Park to the Broad Walk, Regent’s Park. Returned to Hyde Park in 1994, in a different location from its original setting.[4]
Conduit House Memorial Serpentine Road

51°30′18″N 0°09′34″W / 51.5050°N 0.1595°W / 51.5050; -0.1595 (Conduit House Memorial)
1871 ? Urn on plinth Grade II Marks the site of a conduit house which supplied the precinct of Westminster with water until the spring was cut off by drainage works in 1861. The building was demolished in 1868.[5]

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Diana Rose Garden, South Carriage Drive

51°30′13″N 0°09′19″W / 51.5037°N 0.1553°W / 51.5037; -0.1553 (Diana)
1899 Lady Feodora Gleichen Fountain with sculpture Grade II Made for the garden of Sir Walter Palmer's house Frognal, in Ascot, Berkshire; presented to Hyde Park by Lady Jean Palmer in 1906.[6] Also referred to as the Huntress Fountain.[7]

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Memorial to the Cavalry of the Empire Serpentine Road

51°30′17″N 0°09′19″W / 51.5047°N 0.1553°W / 51.5047; -0.1553 (Cavalry Memorial)
1924 Adrian Jones John James Burnet Equestrian sculpture with stone screen Grade II* Unveiled 21 May 1924[8] at Stanhope Gate; moved in 1961 for the widening of Park Lane.[9] The armour was based on that of the fifteenth-century effigy of the Earl of Warwick at St Mary's, Warwick, the horse’s furniture on that found in Dürer’s engraving of Saint George.[8]
Memorial to William Henry Hudson West Carriage Drive

51°30′30″N 0°10′08″W / 51.5082°N 0.1690°W / 51.5082; -0.1690 (Rima (W. H. Hudson Memorial))
1925 Jacob Epstein Eric Gill (lettering) Stone screen with relief sculpture Grade II Unveiled 19 May 1925 by Stanley Baldwin.[10] Located near the Bird Sanctuary erected in Hudson's memory, the memorial depicts the bird-spirit Rima, a character from his novel Green Mansions (1904). A controversial early work by Epstein, the sculpture was dubbed "the Hyde Park Atrocity" by its detractors.[11]
Memorial to George Lansbury Hyde Park Lido Pavilion

51°30′17″N 0°10′10″W / 51.5046°N 0.1694°W / 51.5046; -0.1694 (George Lansbury Memorial)
1953 Harold Wilson Parker Plaque Unveiled 1953 by Clement Attlee.[12] Lansbury established the Hyde Park Lido in 1930, when he was First Commissioner of Works.[1] The plaque in his honour was installed as part of the post-War reconstruction of the Lido Pavilion.[13]

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Four Winds Fountain Aldford Street North Gate, near Park Lane[14]

51°30′29″N 0°09′25″W / 51.5080°N 0.1570°W / 51.5080; -0.1570 (Joy of Life / Four Winds Fountain)
1963 T. B. Huxley-Jones Fountain with sculptural group Unveiled 25 June 1963; the site was formerly occupied by Munro’s Boy and Dolphin (see above). Originally titled Joy of Life, this was the last commission of the Constance Fund. The fountain basins were redesigned and the work's name changed in 2000–2001.[15]
Little Nell Patte d'Oie north of east end of Serpentine, Serpentine Road[16]

51°30′19″N 0°09′19″W / 51.5054°N 0.1554°W / 51.5054; -0.1554 ("Little Nell")
1975 (after an original of 1896) After William Robert Colton Fountain with sculpture Grade II A replica in artificial stone of a lost Art Nouveau original, described as representing a "winged child with fish".[3] The name "Little Nell" has apparently only been attached to the work more recently;[17] it has also been referred to variously as the "Colton Memorial" and the "Mermaid Fountain".[18]

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Norwegian War Memorial West of Ranger's Lodge

51°30′23″N 0°10′05″W / 51.5064°N 0.1681°W / 51.5064; -0.1681 (Norwegian War Memorial)
1978 ? Commemorative stone mounted on three smaller stones A large Precambrian boulder mounted on three smaller stones. Presented by the Norwegian Navy and Merchant Fleet in thanks for Britain’s support in World War II.[19]
Year of the Child Drinking Fountain Eastern side of the park, in front of The Reservoir public toilets

51°30′29″N 0°09′40″W / 51.5081°N 0.1611°W / 51.5081; -0.1611 (Year of the Child Drinking Fountain)
1981 Polly Hope Theo Crosby Drinking fountain with sculpture Unveiled 4 December 1981. A memorial to the Great Children's Party held in the park in 1979.[20]

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Holocaust Memorial East of the Dell

51°30′15″N 0°09′32″W / 51.5043°N 0.1589°W / 51.5043; -0.1589 (Holocaust Memorial)
1983 Mark Badger Richard Seifert; Derek Lovejoy and Partners Commemorative stones Unveiled 28 June 1983; the first public memorial in Britain to victims of the Holocaust.[21] The largest boulder bears an inscription from Lamentations (3:48) in Hebrew and English: for these i weep/ streams of tears flow/ from my eyes/ because of the destruction/ of my people.
Household Cavalry Memorial South Carriage Drive

51°30′11″N 0°09′21″W / 51.5031°N 0.1559°W / 51.5031; -0.1559 (Household Cavalry Memorial)
1985 ? Raised slate floor plaque in hedge enclosure Commemorates the four soldiers of the Blues and Royals regiment who were killed in the IRA bombing of 20 July 1982 near this spot.[3] The horses killed by the bomb are commemorated by a water trough, which was moved from the Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park in 1985 to serve as a memorial.[22]

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Queen Caroline Memorial
Caroline of Ansbach
West of the Dell, overlooking the Serpentine

51°30′15″N 0°09′37″W / 51.5041°N 0.1602°W / 51.5041; -0.1602 (Queen Caroline Memorial)
1990 ? Urn on plinth Unveiled in 1990 by Elizabeth II. Inscribed To the memory of/ QUEEN CAROLINE/ wife of George II/ for whom/ the Long Water/ and Serpentine/ were created/ between/ 1727–1731.[23]

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Queen Elizabeth Gate
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Hyde Park

51°30′15″N 0°09′08″W / 51.5041°N 0.1523°W / 51.5041; -0.1523 (Queen Elizabeth Gate)
1993 David Wynne Giuseppe Lund Gates Unveiled 6 July 1993 by Elizabeth II.[24] Lund intended for the gates to be "feminine and fresh with the charm of an English garden", in contrast to their formal and "masculine" setting. There was much public criticism of the design.[25]

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Reformers' Tree
The Reform League
Hyde Park

51°30′33″N 0°09′41″W / 51.5091°N 0.1613°W / 51.5091; -0.1613 (Reformers’ Tree)
2001 Harry Gray Roz Flint Mosaic Unveiled in July 2000 by Tony Benn.[26] Depicts a tree near this site which burnt down during the Reform League Riots in 1866, the stump of which became a notice board for political demonstrations.[9]

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Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
Diana, Princess of Wales
Near West Carriage Drive and Rotten Row

51°30′17″N 0°10′17″W / 51.5046°N 0.1715°W / 51.5046; -0.1715 (Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain)
2004 Kathryn Gustafson Fountain Unveiled 6 July 2004 by Elizabeth II.[27] A low, granite oval, 210 metres in circumference, with water coursing along it.[9] The fountain was plagued by blockages and injuries and had to be closed off twice for repairs in its first two years.[27]

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Animals in War Memorial Park Lane

51°30′40″N 0°09′26″W / 51.5111°N 0.1572°W / 51.5111; -0.1572 (Animals in War Memorial)
2004 David Backhouse Stone screens with sculptures Unveiled 24 November 2004 by Princess Anne. Two heavily laden mules are shown trudging towards an opening between two swelling Portland stone screens; beyond lies a grass mound with a cavorting horse and dog.[28]

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7 July Memorial
7 July 2005 London bombings
Near Park Lane

51°30′21″N 0°09′10″W / 51.5059°N 0.1528°W / 51.5059; -0.1528 (7 July Memorial)
2009 Carmody Groarke Architects et al. Stelae Unveiled 7 July 2009 by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, on the fourth anniversary of the terrorist bombings. The 52 victims are each commemorated by a stainless steel stela.[29]

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Serenity[30] Near West Carriage Drive, overlooking the Serpentine

51°30′19″N 0°10′18″W / 51.5052°N 0.1716°W / 51.5052; -0.1716 (Serenity)
2009 Simon Gudgeon Sculpture Unveiled 7 September 2009, and originally titled Isis. 1,000 plaques around the base were sold to donors for personalised inscriptions at £1,000 each,[31] as a way of funding the park's Isis Education Centre for introducing young people to the study of nature. Donated to the park by the Halcyon Gallery.[32] The work was renamed in 2015.[33]

Hyde Park Corner[edit]

The high concentration of military memorials at Hyde Park Corner, centred on Wellington Arch, has been called "one of the world's most important groups of war memorials".[34] The arch was originally crowned with a colossal equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, which in 1883 was removed to Aldershot in Hampshire. The RAF Bomber Command Memorial, inaugurated in 2012, is located a short distance away in Green Park.[35]

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

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Wellington Monument
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Off Park Lane

51°30′16″N 0°09′10″W / 51.5045°N 0.1527°W / 51.5045; -0.1527 (Achilles)
1822 Richard Westmacott Statue Grade I Unveiled 18 June 1822. Wellington is represented symbolically by the hero Achilles, although the head is said to be modelled on the Duke's.[9] The statue, partly inspired by the classical sculptures of the Dioscuri on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, was cast from captured French cannon.[36] The first public nude statue in London since antiquity.[9]

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Statue of George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron Achilles Way traffic island, Park Lane

51°30′15″N 0°09′06″W / 51.5043°N 0.1518°W / 51.5043; -0.1518 (Lord Byron)
1880 Richard Claude Belt Statue Grade II Unveiled 24 May 1880. Inspired by a line from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818): "To sit on rocks and muse o'er flood and fell". Byron is shown with his Newfoundland dog, Bo'sun. The marble pedestal, supplied by the Greek government, was added in 1882.[37]

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Statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Hyde Park Corner

51°30′10″N 0°09′05″W / 51.5029°N 0.1514°W / 51.5029; -0.1514 (Duke of Wellington)
1888 Joseph Edgar Boehm Howard Ince Equestrian statue Grade II Unveiled 21 December 1888. The pedestal is flanked by four soldiers representing the four nations of the United Kingdom. Alfred Gilbert, an assistant in Boehm's studio, claimed to have modelled the horse.[38]

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Peace Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner

51°30′09″N 0°09′03″W / 51.5025°N 0.1508°W / 51.5025; -0.1508 (Quadriga, Wellington Arch)
1908–1912 Adrian Jones Decimus Burton Quadriga Grade I Unveiled 2 April 1912.[39] Burton originally intended for a quadriga to surmount his arch, but in 1845 an equestrian statue of Wellington was installed in its place. This was removed to Aldershot when the arch's orientation was changed in 1883. Edward VII commissioned the present group, but did not live to see its completion.[40]

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Machine Gun Corps Memorial (David) Hyde Park Corner

51°30′12″N 0°09′03″W / 51.5032°N 0.1508°W / 51.5032; -0.1508 (Machine Gun Corps Memorial)
1925 Francis Derwent Wood Memorial with sculpture Grade II* Unveiled 10 May 1925 by the Duke of Connaught. Re-erected on current location in 1962. The second bronze model for the figure stood in Chelsea Embankment Gardens from 1963 until it was stolen in the 1970s; it has been replaced by a replica.[41]

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Royal Artillery Memorial Hyde Park Corner

51°30′09″N 0°09′07″W / 51.5025°N 0.1519°W / 51.5025; -0.1519 (Royal Artillery Memorial)
1925 Charles Sargeant Jagger Lionel Pearson Memorial with sculpture Grade I Unveiled 18 October 1925 by the Duke of Connaught. The regiment demanded a "realistic" memorial and got one, crowned with a howitzer rendered in stone. The figure of a dead soldier shrouded in a greatcoat was still, however, found to be unsettling.[42]

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Tile murals Hyde Park Corner pedestrian subway 1995 FreeForm Arts Trust Tile murals 900 m2 (9,700 sq ft) of murals depicting the history of the area, painted by a team of six artists led by Alan Rossiter.[43]

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Australian War Memorial Hyde Park Corner

51°30′08″N 0°09′05″W / 51.5021°N 0.1515°W / 51.5021; -0.1515 (Australian War Memorial)
2003 Janet Laurence Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects Stone screen A curving granite wall inscribed with the names of 24,000 Australian towns and villages and of battles in both World Wars. Water runs down parts of the wall and slabs up against it bear the country’s coat of arms and military badges.[44]

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New Zealand War Memorial Hyde Park Corner

51°30′11″N 0°09′01″W / 51.5031°N 0.1504°W / 51.5031; -0.1504 (New Zealand War Memorial)
2006 Paul Dibble John Hardwick-Smith Stelae Unveiled 11 November 2006 by Elizabeth II. Consists of 16 bronze X beams (or "standards"), six of which are arranged in the shape of the Southern Cross constellation.[45]

Marble Arch[edit]

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

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Marble Arch Marble Arch

51°30′47″N 0°09′32″W / 51.5131°N 0.1589°W / 51.5131; -0.1589 (Marble Arch)
1825–1833 John Flaxman, Richard Westmacott and Edward Hodges Baily John Nash (altered by Edward Blore; relocated by Thomas Cubitt) Triumphal arch Grade I The first entirely marble-clad building in Britain, designed as a ceremonial gateway to the forecourt of Buckingham Palace and modelled on the Arch of Constantine in Rome.[46]
Mosaics Marble Arch pedestrian subway

51°30′46″N 0°09′35″W / 51.5129°N 0.1598°W / 51.5129; -0.1598 (Mosaics)
1962 William Mitchell Mosaics Mitchell was chosen for this commission by the architect Frederick Gibberd, with whom he had collaborated previously. The murals use a combination of traditional and experimental mosaic techniques. Another set of mosaics which was part of the same redevelopment scheme, at Hyde Park Corner, has been removed.[47]

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Freeman Family Drinking Fountain North Carriage Drive, near Marble Arch

51°30′43″N 0°09′45″W / 51.5120°N 0.1625°W / 51.5120; -0.1625 (Freeman Family Drinking Fountain)
2009 David Harber Drinking fountain Unveiled 23 September 2009.[48] A stainless steel sphere decorated with petals of oxidised bronze.[49] Donated to the park by Michael Freeman, a property developer and trustee of the Royal Parks Foundation, and his wife.[50]

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Still Water Marble Arch

51°30′46″N 0°09′35″W / 51.5128°N 0.1596°W / 51.5128; -0.1596 (Still Water)
2010 Nic Fiddian-Green Sculpture Unveiled 14 September 2010. At the time it was the largest freestanding bronze sculpture in London, at 33 ft (10 m) high. It replaces a previous version temporarily installed on this site; commissioned by Sir Anthony Bamford and his wife, it is now on their estate in Daylesford, Gloucestershire.[51] The replacement work, which is larger, is on long-term loan from the sculptor.[52]
From this moment despair ends and tactics begin Marble Arch

51°30′47″N 0°09′33″W / 51.5131°N 0.1592°W / 51.5131; -0.1592 (From this moment despair ends and tactics begin)
2019 Attributed to Banksy Mural The work appeared over the night of 25–26 April 2019, while the protest movement Extinction Rebellion was camped on the site. The slogan is a quotation from The Revolution of Everyday Life (1967) by Raoul Vaneigem.[53]
Circadian Marble Arch Place

51°30′49″N 0°09′36″W / 51.5135°N 0.1601°W / 51.5135; -0.1601 (Circadian)
2021 Lee Simmons Sculpture Unveiled 29 September 2021. 11 metres (36 ft) high, the metal sculpture is intended to represent a floral form. Its title refers to circadian rhythm.[54]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b History and Architecture. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. ^ Landscape History. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b c Land Use Consultants 2014, p. 48.
  4. ^ Historic England. "The Boy and Dolphin Fountain, Rose Garden, Hyde Park (1251181)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  5. ^ Historic England. "Westminster Precinct Conduit House Memorial at North Head of the Dell (1356753)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  6. ^ Garrihy, Andrea (2004). "Gleichen, Lady Feodora Georgina Maud (1861–1922)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33423. Retrieved 6 January 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. ^ The Huntress Fountain. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Adrian Jones (1845–1938), sculptor and artist". Your Archives. The National Archives. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d e Monuments in Hyde Park. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  10. ^ Williamson & Baldwin 2004, p. 172.
  11. ^ "Epstein, Sir Jacob (1880–1959) Knight sculptor". Your Archives. The National Archives. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  12. ^ Matthews 2018, p. 144.
  13. ^ Land Use Consultants 2014, p. 49.
  14. ^ Joy of Life Fountain. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  15. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 85–87.
  16. ^ Land Use Consultants 2014, p. 12.
  17. ^ Speel, Bob. William Robert Colton (1867–1921). Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  18. ^ "Memorial Fountain (1896), Hyde Park, London, by William Robert Colton RA". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  19. ^ Norwegian War Memorial. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  20. ^ Year of the Child Drinking Fountain. Art UK. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  21. ^ Garden in London's Hyde Park is Britain's Holocaust Memorial. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 28 June 1983. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  22. ^ "Fountain: Hyde Park bomb—the horses". London Remembers. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  23. ^ "Queen Caroline memorial". London Remembers. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  24. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, p. 87.
  25. ^ [Buildings and Monuments in the Royal Parks] (PDF). Jones Morris Graphic Design. p. 44. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  26. ^ Annual Report and Accounts 2000–2001 (PDF). The Royal Parks. p. 9. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  27. ^ a b "Timeline: Diana memorial fountain". BBC News. 2 November 2005. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  28. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 185–186.
  29. ^ 7 July Memorial. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  30. ^ Serenity. The Royal Parks. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  31. ^ Ibrahim, Magda (8 September 2009). "Isis sculpture unveiled in London's Hyde Park". Horticulture Week. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  32. ^ Isis. The Royal Parks Foundation. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  33. ^ Serenity sculpture launch. GL Events. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  34. ^ Historic England. "The Cavalry Memorial (1278118)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  35. ^ Kershman 2013, pp. 270–271.
  36. ^ Historic England. "The Achilles Statue (off Park Lane to North of Hyde Park Corner Screen) (1231393)". National Heritage List for England.
  37. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 181–182.
  38. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 88–91.
  39. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, p. 92.
  40. ^ "A history of the Quadriga, Wellington Arch". Rupert Harris Conservation. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  41. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 94–96.
  42. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 96–100.
  43. ^ Pearson, Lynn; Dennis, Richard (2005). Tile Gazetteer—Westminster. Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  44. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 100–101.
  45. ^ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 101–104.
  46. ^ Bradley & Pevsner 2003, p. 662.
  47. ^ Pereira, Dawn (2012). "William Mitchell and the London County Council: the evolution of a classless form of public art". Sculpture Journal. 21 (1): 57–70. doi:10.3828/sj.2012.5. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  48. ^ Low, Valentine (24 September 2009). £30,000 Hyde Park fountain aims to sink bottled water craze. Polaris Institute. Archived from the original on 2 December 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  49. ^ Freeman Family Drinking Fountain. Royal Parks Foundation. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  50. ^ Michael Freeman. The Royal Parks Foundation. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  51. ^ "Tallest Free-Standing Bronze in London to Be Installed on Tuesday". ArtDaily. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  52. ^ "Councillor Robert Davis, Westminster City Council". 3rd Dimension. Public Monuments & Sculpture Association. 27 March 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  53. ^ Morris, Seren (26 April 2019). "Banksy pays tribute to Extinction Rebellion". Dazed. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  54. ^ "New Sculpture at Marble Arch Place". Marble Arch London. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2022.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2003). London: Westminster. The Buildings of England. Vol. 6. London and New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Kershman, Andrew (2013). London's Monuments. London: Metro Publications.
  • Matthews, Peter (2018). London's Statues and Monuments. Oxford: Shire Publications.
  • Ward-Jackson, Philip (2011). Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster: Volume 1. Public Sculpture of Britain. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

External links[edit]