Thursday, November 19, 2015

Needed A Horse

This statue is found right in the centre of Queen's Park where our provincial legislature building is located. The subject is Edward VII and the piece was designed by English artist Thomas Brock and was installed in New Delhi, India in 1919. After becoming a republic India was ridding itself of signs of British imperialism and the sculpture was removed and was eventually bought by a wealthy Toronto businessman who felt that our city lacked a good sculpture of a man on a horse. It was installed here in 1969 and is passed daily by hundreds of U of Toronto students as they pass from one side of the campus to the other.

27 comments:

EG CameraGirl said...

Fascinating history of why Toronto has Edward VII on a horse!

PerthDailyPhoto said...

That was an entertaining tale Pat :) now you know I'm going to have to find out if Perth has a horse sculpture.. stay tuned ☺

Karl said...

Gorgeous photo of this fascinating statue !

Jackie McGuinness said...

Thanks for the background. Seen it numerous times.

21 Wits said...

Such interesting history, a good place to have it, and what a gorgeous day as well!

Sharon said...

It's a beautiful statue and looks very proud sitting there. I've been watching a series on PBS called Indian Summer which has shed some light on how imperialist British rule worked in early India. I don't blame them for getting rid of the signs.

Luis Gomez said...

Every city needs a sculpture of a man in a horse if not many. From the top of my head I can think of at least 3 around where I live. ;)

Billy Blue Eyes said...

So how many times does it get abused by the students hanging items on it or the odd Father Christmas hat

VP said...

An interesting story for a beautyful monument!

Karen said...

It's quite regal looking. Beautiful sky too.

Maxwell Mead Williams Robinson Barry said...

incredible.

Unknown said...

Perfect against that gorgeous blue!

Andy said...

Interesting bit of history. India you say.

Lowell said...

Every great city needs a statue of a man on a horse. I think we have one here, but it's of a traitor - a Confederate general. I do love living in the south!

This is a very attractive statue!

Gosia said...

the horse is lovely

Revrunner said...

Sure, every city that is a city needs the statue of a man astride a horse.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Quite a few fascinating layers of history carried in this one statue! Most interesting.

Halcyon said...

Every city needs a good man on a horse, I suppose!

TexWisGirl said...

a lovely statue...on the move!

cieldequimper said...

Blue sky, lovely foliage, a beautiful statue with an interesting travelling history! Id doesn't get any better than that!

Tom said...

Every city needs a good sculpture of a man on a horse.

Unknown said...

Very dramatic and stately against that lovely sky...

Cloudia said...

wonderful provenance. Thanks!





Warm ALOHA,
ComfortSpiral

William Kendall said...

It's a formidable one!

Lois said...

Interesting history! it is a beautiful statue.

genie said...

Interesting story of the monument. I bet it was pretty darn heavy to move all about the world.

jennyfreckles said...

Heheh, that's an interesting story of how it came to be there.