Unveiled today is the first online catalog of statues from the UK.
ArtUK, a charity, has created a photographic archive of 13500 public art works.
With 175 works dedicated specifically to Queen Victoria, she is the most honored person. Data also show that 77% of depicted people are male and 17% are female, with the remainder being a mix of both sexes.
The online catalogue reveals that there are more than 20 statues for dogs and cats.
These statues have a story to share.
A woman is Britain’s most honored person. Queen Victoria has 175 memorials and statues dedicated to her.
This statue, located in Salford, depicts her as a younger woman.
It was built in honour of Queen Victoria’s 1851 visit to Manchester and Salford. The majority of the other Queen Victorias were placed in the 1890s or 1900s.
However, men outnumber women by four to 1.
There are more then 100 generals and 50 admirals. There are 12 statues of Lord Nelson, Gladstone has six.
In recent years, much has been done to reduce the gender gap.
Mary Anning, a fossil hunter, was recently installed in Lyme Regis.
Denise Dutton’s latest work is the latest in a series featuring women she has portrayed recently, including the suffragette Annie Kenney from Oldham and a memorial to Women’s Land Army.
She says, “There’s been a thrust over these last two years to show women have done.” I wanted her to be a woman of purpose. She should be striding. She was very determined.”
The problem with capturing a likeness is that many women were not given official portraits due to their age. Only one painting and one pastel are available for Mary Anning.
Anning created Tray’s likeness from her sketch.
It was headline news when protestors in Bristol tore down Edward Colston’s statue because of his connections to slavery.
The catalog reveals that there are still some memorials for people who were close to the slave trade.
As more biographical information is added, this number could rise.
This was not the first instance of public outrage at a statue. A statue of a small brown dogrier was built in Battersea in 1906.
It was a monument to a dog who had been dissected during a medical demonstration.
Protests, rioting, and finally the removal of the original brown dog in 1910 in the middle night led to the statue being taken down. In 1985, a replacement statue was built.
Edward Colston’s empty plinth isn’t the only statue missing from the catalog.
This is the foot of Steve Ovett, a middle distance runner who won a gold medal.
In 2007, the statue was taken from Brighton.
In 2017, a new Steve was placed on Brighton’s seafront. However, it is not the only one.
Dudley, the Cat is among more than 20 dogs and cats who have received their own statues.
Dudley is, however, a tribute to Liz Burrows.
Liz lived near the Union Canal in Linlithgow, and was a leader in Burgh Beautiful. This program was designed to improve the area.
In her honor, this statue of Dudley, Liz’s beloved rescue cat, was erected after she died in 2012.
Yes, indeed. The official photograph of The Duke of Wellington at Exchange Square in Glasgow is wearing a traffic cone.
The statue of Copenhagen on his horse, the Duke, was erected in 1840s. It is located outside the city’s modern arts gallery.
In recent years, he has been regularly seen with a traffic cone and, at one time, a blue-and-yellow knitted cone supporting Ukraine.
All efforts to remove his headgear from plastic are quickly stopped. The cone is now part of the art.
There are many animal statues, beyond the famous cats and dogs.
Cardiff is home to Billy the Seal. Scotland boasts two statues of Corporal Wojtek, the soldier bear from Edinburgh and Duns.
Wojtek was adopted in Poland by the army. He is believed to have carried ammunition during the Battle at Monte Cassino.
According to the catalog, there is however only one kangaroo at Hobart Place, Melbourne and Chelmsford.
The catalogue is being updated so if anyone discovers another kangaroo ArtUK would love to hear.
