Carlo Marochetti (1805-67), who made his name first in France and then in England, was one of the most successful and highly paid sculptors of his time. His famous subjects included Wellington, Queen Victoria (who had the highest regard for him) and the Prince Consort. The discovery of one of his works in the Thames (into which it had probably been thrown after a robbery) led Alistair Lexden to send the following letter to The Times where it was published on July 22.
Sir, No particular importance should be attached to the bronze bust of Wellington that has been fished out of the Thames (News, July 19).
The Sardinian baron Carlo Marochetti turned out any number of them at his iron foundry with 20 employees behind his house in Onslow Square, west London.
But he took infinite pains over another sculpture, the duke’s hands, always a technically complex subject, and rightly regarded as among his most famous works. Three of these remarkable sculptures are known to exist---two are in the Royal Collection. They helped him win his most prized commission: the marble effigies of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for the mausoleum at Frogmore House. Completed in 1862, the queen’s monument was stored in a cavity in the walls of Windsor Castle and forgotten; a prolonged search by desperate courtiers eventually located it when it was needed nearly forty years later.
Lord Lexden
House of Lords