A marble bust of Queen Victoria with her head slightly turned to the right and with her hair adorned with a wreath of oak leaves with an acorn, a thistle, a shamrock and a rose on each side. Across her low-necked dress she wears a sash. It is made in the neo-classical style which imitated the simplicity and purity of line of ancient sculpture combined with suggestive and evocative gestures that were devoid of emotion.

This marble bust of Queen Victoria was made by the Italian sculptor working in London Baron Carlo Marochetti. Of an aristocratic background, he was a well established artist working in Paris under the patronage of the French royal family, before he moved to London just before the outbreak of the French 1848 Revolution, which ended the rule of King Louis Philippe I. Once in London, Marochetti soon became one of Queen Victoria’s favourite sculptors.