Thursday 25 October 2007

Boadicea - Thomas Thornycroft

Well known by every tourist who's ever visited London, this is the 'British Valkyrie' -- the rebellious Briton who led a savage uprising against Roman rule, laying siege to and then overrunning Roman London.
Thornycroft's Boadicea, the embodiment of martial prowess, simultaneously personifies the nation at its most maternally protective; the Britannia-figure, spear in hand, who defends "British Liberty" against all comers.. [Telegraph]
Begun in 1856 and erected at Westminster in 1905, Boadicea took on a new and unmistakeably symbolic meaning in the Thatcher years, when it was often suggested that it would have been better if the chariot had been erected facing away from the Houses of Parliament...

2 comments:

KG said...

For Brits these days, all the sculpture means is "some shiela riding in a cart".

Anonymous said...

Where is the horse's cock? You always see a cock in a human artwork but not in a horse? C'mon you artists, show the horse's big wonderful cock.