3-017-070 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Statue of the late Sir Charles Barry, R.A., by J. H. Foley, R.A., in the new Palace of Westminster, [London], 1865. 'It was generally felt, on the lamented and untimely death of Sir Charles Barry, that a memorial to him should be placed in the great building he designed and to the erection of which he devoted the best energies and the best years of his life. Accordingly...the commission was given to Mr. J. H. Foley, R.A.[and] the statue was a short time back placed in the inner hall of the New Palace of Westminster...[The sculpture shows] the architect seated, deeply absorbed, designing the Palace of Westminster. Having drawn the plan of the palace on the paper before him, the idea of the Victoria tower strikes him, and this he has just sketched as a marginal note. He then holds the drawing-board at arm's length, to judge the effect of his work...[The Palace of Westminster] must be admitted to be one of the most imposing structures in Europe. Barry did not live to see his great work completed...even now the public can form only an imperfect idea of the complete design of the architect, and must continue to do f o until the buildings which he proposed are erected'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.