Alexandra of Denmark (1844-1925) Queen Consort of King Edward VII

Location

Country: France
City: Paris
Place: British Embassy

On her marriage to Albert Edward, eldest son of Queen Victoria (and later King Edward VII), in March 1863, Alexandra became Princess of Wales. She remained so for 34 years, until becoming Queen consort on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.

D’Epinay exhibited two of the many busts he sculpted of Alexandra, Princess of Wales at the Royal Academy, London, in 1868 and 1872. The 1868 bust was recorded in the Royal Academy catalogue as ‘the property of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales’. In 1906 this d’Epinay bust was placed in the British Embassy, Paris, having been commissioned by the Ambassador himself. When the work was first installed, d’Epinay was presented with the Royal Victoria Order (an order of knighthood recognising services to the monarch) by the then British Ambassador, in honour of the eight busts of Alexandra the sculptor had produced to date.

The Government Art Collection also includes a bronze statuette of Alexandra’s husband, King Edward VII (GAC 15101). It is a reduced-size version of d’Epinay’s life-size statue, located within the racecourse at Port Louis, Mauritius.

Prosper Charles Adrien d’Epinay was born in Port Louis, Mauritius; the son of a politician. He studied under sculptor Jean-Pierre Dantan in Paris and Luigi Amici in Rome. D’Epinay exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, between 1865 and 1881, while based in Rome. In 1883 he exhibited in Paris as a member of the Cercle de l’Union Artistique. He is best-known for busts of the Empress Eugenie; actress Sarah Bernhardt and artist Henri Regnault, as well as a statue of his father (in Mauritius), Venus with Golden Girdle (1874) and some eight busts of Queen Alexandra. He was awarded the Royal Victoria Order in honour of his eight busts of Alexandra. He later executed caricature portraits and exhibited cartoons at the Salon des Humoristes in Paris.

People

Alexandra of Denmark (1844 - 1925)

Places

Subjects

royal portrait, woman, necklace, pearls, Queen Consort

Materials & Techniques

marble, bust (as object name), marble bust

Artist

Prosper d' Epinay (1836 - 1914)

Title

Alexandra of Denmark (1844-1925) Queen Consort of King Edward VII

Date

1906

Medium

Marble bust

Dimensions

height: 79.00 cm

Acquisition

Commissioned 1906

Inscription

verso: S.M.I.A REINE ALEXANDRA / marbre unique / executé pr l'Ambe Britannique / à Paris/ Sir Francis Bertie étant Amber / part P d'Epinay / 1906

Provenance

commissioned by the British Ambassador in Paris in c.1906

GAC number

0/599/124