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1 of 253523 objects
A Seated Angel with Five Infant Children 1878
Terracotta | RCIN 64069
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A terracotta group modelled in the round comprising a winged male angel with feathered wings, dressed in flowing drapery, with his right leg apparently crossed over his left knee, his bare foot just touching the ground at front. With his bare left arm and right hand he cradles three young infants, another older child crouches by the angel's right knee, and to the other side a fifth child stands. Inscribed in paint around the circular base ''OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN' Dalou Fecit 1878'.
The employment of Dalou was probably through Princess Louise, who had trained in sculpture from him. The monument's design evolved in the sculptor's studio in Glebe Place, Chelsea, and was intended for a shallow rectangular niche in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle, constructed of oak with a gothic canopy.
Catalogue entry adapted from Sculpture in the Collection of His Majesty The King (2025).Provenance
Commissioned by Queen Victoria, 1877, for her Private Chapel at Windsor Castle. On 29 June that year she visited the Private Chapel with her daughter Princess Louise and recorded in her Journal 'after luncheon went into the Chapel to see where a small memorial group could be placed, in recollection of my 5 poor little grandsons, whom I have lost. It is proposed that Dalou, a clever young French sculptor, should do the group'. In July that year Dalou wrote to Princess Louise acknowledging a change requested by the queen to change the position of the head of the eldest child, and promising to do his best with the likenesses of the two little princes with the aid of photographs obtained through the intervention of Boehm.
The work is a memorial to five of her grandchildren who died in infancy. The children represented in the group were
Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1864-66), son of Victoria, the Princess Royal and the Crown Prince of Prussia
Prince Frederick of Hesse (1870-73), son of Princess Alice and the Grand Duke of Hesse
Prince Alexander of Wales (b&d1871), son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra
Prince Harold of Schleswig-Holstein (b&d1876), son of Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
And a stillborn son (1877), son of Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
The completed work was installed in June 1878. The queen and Princess Louise visited the Chapel, the queen pronouncing it 'very well done'.
Terracotta studies for elements of the group are in the collection of the Petit Palais. A full size bronze was also made (not Royal Collection). Plaster examples of the group could be ordered for 50 guineas and teracotta for 120 guineas. A third-size version was available at 70 guineas. A small version was formerly in the Royal Collection (presented 1924 to the Infants Hospital, Vincent Square, London by Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, current whereabouts unknown). Another was presented to the Crown Princess of Prussia, mother of one of the memorialised children.
In 1879 Dalou made an additional group representing Princess Marie of Hesse, daughter of Princess Alice, who died, aged 4, in 1878. This is no longer in the Royal Collection. -
Medium and techniques
Terracotta
Category
Object type(s)
Place of Production
Chelsea [London]
