| Statue of Queen Anne | |
|---|---|
 The statue in 2011 | |
 | |
| Artist | Richard Claude Belt and Louis-Auguste Malempré, afterFrancis Bird |
| Year | 1886 (1886) |
| Medium | Marble |
| Subject | Anne, Queen of Great Britain |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′49″N0°06′00″W / 51.51368°N 0.09988°W /51.51368; -0.09988 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Statue of Queen Anne in forecourt of St Paul's Cathedral |
| Designated | 5 June 1972 |
| Reference no. | 1079158[1] |
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Astatue of Queen Anne is installed in the forecourt outside the west front ofSt Paul's Cathedral, in London, United Kingdom.[2] It became a Grade IIlisted building in 1972.
The statue is a copy of a 1712 sculpture byFrancis Bird inCarrara marble which formerly stood at the same location.Queen Anne was the ruling British monarch when the new St Paul's Cathedral was completed in 1710. Bird's statue was unveiled at a thanksgiving service for thePeace of Utrecht, held 7 July 1713. The statue cost £1,130, excluding the marble which was provided by the Queen. It was surrounded by an elegant metal railing made byJean Tijou. The Tijou railings were later removed and replaced by heavier railings to match the others around the cathedral. The original statue was attacked at least three times, in 1743, 1768, and 1882, with noses and arms damaged, and it was also badly weathered by the 1880s. Reputedly, the statue was once defaced with the lines "Brandy Nan, Brandy Nan, left in the lurch; Her face to the gin-shop, her back to the church", alluding to the Queen's reputed fondness for strong liquor and the location of agin palace near the cathedral.
Richard Claude Belt was commissioned in 1885 to create a replacement statue from Sicilian marble, supplied by theCorporation of London at a cost of £1,800. Belt was imprisoned for obtaining money by false pretences in March 1886, andLouis-Auguste Malempré completed the sculpture. The building work to install the statue was done byMowlem and Sons, supervised by thecity architect SirHorace Jones, and the new sculpture was unveiled byReginald Hanson, theLord Mayor of London, on 15 December 1886, the year before theGolden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
TheBaroque sculpture depicts Queen Anne standing, facing downLudgate Hill towardsLudgate Circus. She is robed, wearing thecollar of theOrder of the Garter and a gilded crown, with one hand holding a gilded orb and the other a gilded sceptre. The figure stands on aPortland stone pedestal by architectChristopher Wren, decorated with four symbolic figures, one on each corner: to the west, towards Ludgate Hill, areBritannia with gilded trident (representing England) and a figure representing France (withfleur-de-lys on the visor of her helmet), holding between them a carved representation of theBritish Royal Coat of Arms, and to the east, towards St Paul's Cathedral, are figures representing Ireland (with harp) and North America (a Native American, with feathered skirt and headdress, gilded bow, quiver of arrows, and lizard). The pedestal stands on three steps surrounded by heavycast iron railings.
The pedestal bears two inscriptions: on the south side "The Original STATUE / was erected on this spot in the year 1712 / to commemorate the completion of / SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL / FRANCIS BIRD Sculptor." and on the north side: "This Replica / of the Statue of QUEEN ANNE / was erected at the expense of / The CORPORATION of LONDON / In the year 1886 / The Rt. Hon. / SIRREGINALD HANSON M.A. F.S.A. /Lord Mayor /Wm. Braham Esq / Chairman of the City Lands Committee."
After they were removed, the original 8-ton weathered sculpture, and the four similarly weathered 5-ton stone figures from the base, were rediscovered months later abandoned in the yard of a London stonemason. They were acquired byAugustus Hare and installed in the grounds of his house atHolmhurst St Mary nearHastings, with Queen Anne mounted on an elliptical pedestal and the four other seated figures on steps around at the base, similar to the original. The house was Grade II listed in 1976, and the statue received a separate Grade II* listing at the same time.
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