JUPITER STATUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS

JUPITER STATUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, ROYAL VICTORIA PARK

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1394743
Date first listed:: 05-Aug-1975
List Entry Name:: JUPITER STATUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS
Statutory Address:: JUPITER STATUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, ROYAL VICTORIA PARK

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1394743
Date first listed:: 05-Aug-1975
Date of most recent amendment:: 15-Oct-2010
List Entry Name:: JUPITER STATUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS
Statutory Address 1:: JUPITER STATUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, ROYAL VICTORIA PARK

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: JUPITER STATUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, ROYAL VICTORIA PARK

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: ST 73914 65584

Details

ROYAL VICTORIA PARK 656-1/28/1432 (South side) Jupiter Statue in the Botanical Gardens

(Formerly Listed as: VICTORIA PARK Jupiter Head) 05/08/75 II*

Colossal bust of Jupiter, on plinth and pedestal. Bust of 1835-1838 by John Osborne (d.1838); plinth of 1861, designed by James Wilson and carved by H Treasure. Limestone bust of Jupiter, almost 1m high, showing a bearded man, hair tied up with fillets, shoulders bare; set on stepped, south-facing plinth approx. 6m high and 1.5m square at base, with keystone motif to centre. No inscription. HISTORY: Osborne was a mason of humble birth, who trained in John Bacon junior's studio. He carved the head of Jupiter, as well as one of the Goddess of Sculpture, after his arrival in Bath: it weighed 6 tons and prompted Walter Savage Landor to remark that "nothing of Michael Angelo's is nobler and nothing of Thorwaldsen's purer. It is colossal." They failed to make Osborne's reputation and formed his destitute widow's only assets on his death. Purchased by Corporation of Bath for £100, Thomas Barker seems to have designed plinths, for which the foundation stones were laid on 9th September 1839 (re Whalley). However, not until Alderman Bush employed James Wilson in 1861 to design a new pedestal was the whole monument erected. This is a remarkable piece of public sculpture, embodying the Romantic creative instinct, and a rare example of colossal Neo-classical sculpture. It is also notable for being executed in Bath stone: demonstration that this material could be safely employed for monumental purposes. Victoria Park was laid out in 1830 on the former Barton Fields, an area of common land and was opened by the Duchess of Kent with her daughter, Princess Victoria, on October 23rd 1830. It was the country's first municipal park. The bust lies within a former quarry to the north-west of the park, laid out by Sir Jerom Murch. SOURCES: Rupert Gunnis, 'Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851' (Revised ed. 1964), 284; R. Whalley, 'The Royal Victoria Park', in Bath History (1994), 147-169. Listing NGR: ST7391465584

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 510146
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.