Angel of Truth -- Victoria Memorial, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, London, UK
N 51° 30.116 W 000° 08.422
30U E 698468 N 5709521
The Angel of Truth on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace
Waymark Code: WMT6XR
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/05/2016
Views: 21
The grand Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, designed by architect Sir Aston Webb, with sculptures by Thomas Brock was finished in 1913, 10 years after work on it began.
There is so much allegory and symbolism here it's hard to know exactly where to begin. Victoria's reign was very long and it coincided with the shift of Great Britain from a colonial power to a maritime and colonial juggernaut that was at the time the most powerful country on earth. It was not a brag to say that the sun never set on the British Empire. Victoria's reign saw an incredible transformation of British society. She was queen during the Industrial Revolution, which revolutionized manufacturing in Britain and the world.
This amazing Edwardian monument features a marble statue of Queen Victoria seated on the throne with her scepter and orb surrounded by marble angels and figures representing Truth, Charity and Peace. Prows of ships jut out from the base of the memorial symbolizing Britain maritime power. A golden winged victory statue's amounts the top of this memorial, reminding of Britain's prowess in wars and the power Britain had to impose and enforce the Pax Britannica throughout her reign, one of the longest eras of peace in British history.
The waymarked epic being is the Angel of Truth. Truth holds a mirror while a seated woman next to her looks at a manuscript. A naked cherub next to her holds a quill pen. This figure is based on the Roman goddess Veritas, who is often depicted holding a hand mirror.
From the Sculpture of London website: (
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"The enormous statue of Queen Victoria, over 18 ft high, and made in Carrara marble (the bulk of the memorial is recorded as being made from Pentelic marble), is seated against a great pediment, facing away from Buckingham Palace and down the Mall towards Trafalgar Square. This truly monumental Victoria wears an enveloping robe and carries orb and sceptre. Around the curved sides of the pedestal, and slightly lower than the monarch, are an angel of Truth to her right (the viewer’s left), and an angel of Justice to her left (our right). Truth carries a mirror, is crushing a snake under her foot, and is accompanied by a seated woman seeking the truth in a manuscript, and a cherub bearing some frond of palm leaves. Justice, a suitably more severe armoured figure with helmet and sword, is helping a weeping nude woman at her feet, and also has an accompanying cherub, who bears Justice’s scales. (For other allegorical figures, see here for Truth and here for Justice.) To the rear, facing the Palace, is a group of Motherhood, sometimes called Charity, as a seated figure in repose with three infants."