The equestrian statue of William III by
John Bacon Junior stands in
St James's Square
St James's Square is the only square in the St James's district of the City of Westminster and is a garden square. It has predominantly Georgian architecture, Georgian and Neo-Georgian architecture. For its first two hundred or so years it was ...
in central London. It is modelled on an earlier
statue of the king by
John Michael Rysbrack in
Queen Square,
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
. Funding for the London statue was provided in the will of Samuel Travers,
M.P., dated 1724, but nothing was done to progress the plan for a further seventy years. A design for the monument was drawn up in 1794 by Bacon's father,
John Bacon Senior, but this was not executed and the commission passed to Bacon Jr., under whose direction the statue was finally erected in 1808. The statue is a
Grade I listed structure.
History
William III,
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by the stadtholders of, and then the heirs apparent of ...
, ascended the English throne in 1688 following the overthrow of
James II in the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...
. William ruled jointly with his wife,
Mary, James's daughter, until her death in 1694, and then solely until his own death in 1702. In 1697 the first proposal had been made to erect a statue in the king's honour in St James's Square, home to many of his strongest supporters.
Nothing was done, however, and two further attempts to revive the plan, in 1710 and 1721, also failed.
In 1724, a member of Parliament and Crown official, Samuel Travers, left a bequest in his will to fund the construction "in St. James's Square or on Cheapside Conduit an equestrian statue in brass to the glorious memory of my master William the Third".
Nevertheless, it was a further seventy years before the commission to design the statue was granted to John Bacon Sr., then England's most notable sculptor, in 1794.
Bacon Sr. died before the commission could be executed, and the final design and construction was undertaken in 1808 by his son, John Bacon Jr.
The statue was originally sited in the middle of an octagonal pool, but this was drained in the 19th century.
Description
The sculpture is in
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
and depicts William in the style of a Roman general. It is heavily influenced by the earlier equestrian statue of William undertaken by Rysbrack and erected in Bristol in 1736.
The king is depicted astride a "spirited" horse and, despite his
Classical style of dress, William's hairstyle follows late 17th century fashion.
Jo Darke, in her history of English and Welsh monuments, suggests that the base of the statue includes a depiction of the molehill, over which William's horse Sorrel stumbled at
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...
, leading to the king's death from complications of pneumonia. Panels on either side of the plinth carry inscriptions in bronze lettering, the first reading
GVLIELMVS III and the second
I. BACON, IVNR. SCVLPTR. 1807.
The statue was designated a
Grade I listed structure, the highest grading given to buildings and structures of "exceptional interest", in 1958.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
See also
*
Cultural depictions of William III of England
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:William 3, equestrian statue, London
1808 sculptures
Bronze sculptures in the City of Westminster
Buildings and structures completed in 1808
Equestrian statues in the United Kingdom
Grade I listed monuments and memorials
William III
Outdoor sculptures in London
Sculptures of men in the United Kingdom
Statues of William III of England
Royal monuments in the United Kingdom