This is a list of public art in Kensington Gardens , one of the Royal Parks of London.
When the contemporary sculptor Anish Kapoor held an exhibition of his work in the gardens in 2010 he remarked that they are "the best site in London for a piece of art, probably [the best] in the world". [1]
| Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates | Date | Artist / designer | Architect / other | Type | Designation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Coalbrookdale Gates | South Carriage Drive 51°30′08″N0°10′29″W / 51.5022°N 0.1748°W | 1851 | John Bell | Charles Crookes | Gates, cast iron | Grade II | Made in Coalbrookdale for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Installed at the entrance to Lancaster Walk in 1852 and moved to their present location in 1871, during construction of the Albert Memorial. [2] |
 | Queen's Gate | Queen's Gate 51°30′06″N0°10′49″W / 51.501635°N 0.180378°W | 1858 | ? | — | Gates and piers, cast iron | Grade II* | [3] |
 More images | Statue of Edward Jenner | Italian Gardens, Kensington Gardens 51°30′38″N0°10′31″W / 51.510602°N 0.175156°W | 1858 | William Calder Marshall | James Pennethorne | Statue | Grade II | Unveiled by Prince Albert in Trafalgar Square in 1858. After pressure from anti-vaccinationists the statue was moved in 1862 to the Italian Gardens at Kensington, [4] which were conceived by Albert and laid out by Pennethorne. The rest of the sculpture in the ensemble is by John Thomas. [5] |
 More images | Speke's Monument John Hanning Speke | Junction of Lancaster Walk and Budges Walk, Kensington Gardens 51°30′32″N0°10′45″W / 51.5090°N 0.1792°W | 1864 | — | Philip Hardwick | Obelisk | Grade II | A red granite obelisk, an appropriate form of commemoration for an explorer so associated with the River Nile. The pedestal inscribed IN MEMORY OF/ SPEKE/ VICTORIA NYANZA / AND THE NILE/ 1864. The phrasing avoids crediting Speke with the discovery of the Nile's source, as this was a contentious point. [6] |
 More images | Physical Energy | Junction of Lancaster Walk and several other walkways, Kensington Gardens 51°30′24″N0°10′42″W / 51.5068°N 0.1783°W | 1907 (installed) | George Frederic Watts | — | Equestrian statue | Grade II | Installed 24 September 1907. Developed by Watts from his equestrian bronze Hugh Lupus (1870–1884) for the Duke of Westminster. Gifted to the nation on Watts's death in 1904, though the cast had not yet been made from the gesso model (now in the Watts Gallery). An earlier bronze cast was incorporated into the Rhodes Memorial (1906–1912) in Cape Town, South Africa. [7] |
 More images | Statue of Peter Pan | West of the Long Water, Kensington Gardens 51°30′31″N0°10′34″W / 51.5086°N 0.1760°W | 1912 | George Frampton | — | Statue | Grade II* | Unveiled in secret on May Day 1912. The character's creator, J. M. Barrie, commissioned the sculpture and chose the site, which is Peter's landing point in the book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens . Questions were raised in Parliament about the propriety of an author promoting his work in this way. [2] [8] |
 More images | Memorial to Esme Percy | Palace Gate 51°30′07″N0°11′02″W / 51.502008°N 0.183887°W | 1961 | Silvia Gilley | — | Drinking fountain with sculpture | — | A small bronze figure of a terrier on a platform rising from the centre of a shallow circular pool. [9] |
 More images | Two Bears | Junction of North Flower Walk and Budges Walk, near the Italian Gardens, Kensington Gardens 51°30′39″N0°10′35″W / 51.510972°N 0.176251°W | 1970 | ? | — | Drinking fountain with sculpture | — | Statue of two embracing bears originally placed in 1939 to commemorate 80 years of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. The original was stolen but was replaced with a copy in 1970. [10] |
 | St Govor's Well | Off the Broad Walk, Kensington Gardens 51°30′12″N0°11′04″W / 51.503449°N 0.184426°W | 1976 | ? | — | Drinking fountain | — | Inscribed: "This drinking fountain marks the site of an ancient spring, which in 1856 was named St Govor's Well by the First Commissioner of Works, later to become Lord Llanover. Saint Govor, a sixth-century hermit, was the patron saint of a church in Llanover which had eight wells in its churchyard." [11] The spring's name also appears as "St Gover's Well". It was thought to have medicinal properties. [12] |
 More images | The Arch 1979–1980 | North bank of the Long Water, Kensington Gardens 51°30′27″N0°10′24″W / 51.507605°N 0.173237°W | 1979–1980 | Henry Moore | — | Sculpture | — | Presented by Moore to the nation for installation in Kensington Gardens in 1980, two years after his 80th birthday exhibition in the nearby Serpentine Gallery. Dismantled in 1996 due to structural instability; re-erected in 2012. [13] |
 | Memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales | Forecourt of the Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens 51°30′16″N0°10′31″W / 51.504467°N 0.175184°W | 1997 | Ian Hamilton Finlay | Peter Coates and Andrew Whittle (lettering) | Floor plaque, tree plaque and eight stone benches | — | Pastoral poetry is inscribed on each element of the work. The plaque at the entrance of the gallery is inscribed with the names of trees found at Kensington Gardens and a quotation from the 18th-century philosopher Francis Hutcheson. [14] Diana was a patron of the Serpentine Gallery. [15] |
 | Trumpet(or the Tiffany Drinking Fountain) | Junction of the Broad Walk and Mount Walk, Kensington Gardens 51°30′17″N0°11′07″W / 51.504631°N 0.185291°W | 2012 | — | Ben Addy(of Moxon Architects) | Drinking fountain | — | The winner, alongside Watering Holes in Green Park, of a RIBA-judged design competition; it was commended for its "formal clarity and elegance". [16] Of the two designs this was thought to be the more "design-led" and Watering Holes the more "art-led". [17] |
| Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates | Date | Artist / designer | Architect / other | Type | Designation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 More images | Frieze of Parnassus | Podium of the Albert Memorial | 1864–1872 | Henry Hugh Armstead and John Birnie Philip | George Gilbert Scott | Relief sculpture | Grade I | Portrays 169 individual architects, composers, painters, poets, and sculptors from history. [18] |
 More images | Asia | Albert Memorial 51°30′08″N0°10′39″W / 51.502206°N 0.177383°W | 1865–1871 | John Henry Foley | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | A personification of the continent, seated on an Indian elephant, removes a veil to reveal herself. Flanking her are an Indian soldier, a Persian poet, a Chinese potter and a Turkish merchant. [19] |
 More images | Africa | Albert Memorial 51°30′09″N0°10′39″W / 51.502560°N 0.177454°W | 1865–1871 | William Theed | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | A figure in Egyptian costume, representing the continent, rests on a camel. Beside her are an Arabian merchant, a figure sometimes identified as a Nubian, a female European and a tribesman. [20] |
 More images | America | Albert Memorial 51°30′09″N0°10′41″W / 51.502516°N 0.178030°W | 1865–1871 | John Bell | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | The personification of America rides a bison charging forward, guided by the sceptre of the United States, identified by her starry sash. The other figures represent Canada, Mexico and South America. [21] |
 More images | Europe | Albert Memorial 51°30′08″N0°10′41″W / 51.502156°N 0.177962°W | 1865–1871 | Patrick MacDowell | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | Europa, seated on a bull, carries an orb and sceptre signifying her continent's imperial dominance in the nineteenth century. Around her sit Britannia with a trident, France with a sword and laurel wreath, Germany with an open book and Italy with a lyre and palette. [22] |
 | Agriculture | Albert Memorial | 1865–1871 | William Calder Marshall | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | A husbandman, flanked on either side by figures representing livestock farming (a shepherd boy with a lamb and an ewe) and cereal production, looks up to a female personification of Agriculture. [23] |
 | Commerce | Albert Memorial | 1865–1871 | Thomas Thornycroft | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | The group consists of Commerce, bearing a cornucopia, a young merchant in "Anglo-Saxon" dress (said to be modelled on the sculptor's son Hamo), an Eastern merchant and a rustic with a sack of corn. [24] |
 | Engineering | Albert Memorial | 1865–1871 | John Lawlor | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | The presiding genius of engineering directs three workers: an engineer with plan in hand, a mechanical engineer with a cogwheel, and a navvy. The two bridges over the Menai Strait are represented at the back of the group. [25] |
 | Manufactures | Albert Memorial | 1865–1871 | Henry Weekes | George Gilbert Scott | Sculptural group | Grade I | A female personification of manufactures, accompanied by a blacksmith, looks down on two child labourers, one a factory girl and the other a young potter, representing art manufactures. [26] |
 More images | Mosaics | Tympana, spandrels and vault of the canopy, Albert Memorial | 1866–1868 | John Richard Clayton with Salviati and Co. | George Gilbert Scott | Mosaics | Grade I | The enthroned female figures in the tympana are identified by their inscriptions as Pictura, Poesis, Sculptura and Architectura; the last displays the design of the Albert Memorial itself. [27] |
 | Virtues | Flèche of the Albert Memorial | 1867–1870 | James Redfern | George Gilbert Scott | Statues | Grade I | Personifications of the seven virtues along with an eighth, Humanity. Redfern's plaster models were electroformed in copper by Francis Skidmore's ironworking firm in Coventry. The resulting figures were gilded after being mounted on the memorial. [28] [29] |
 | Sciences | Corners of the Albert Memorial | c. 1868 | Henry Hugh Armstead and John Birnie Philip | George Gilbert Scott | Statues | Grade I | In niches on a level with the spandrels are Armstead's Rhetoric and Medicine and Philip's Philosophy and Physiology. Below them, standing on column shafts, are Philip's Geometry and Geology and Armstead's Astronomy and Chemistry. [30] |
 More images | Statue of Albert, Prince Consort | Albert Memorial 51°30′09″N0°10′39″W / 51.502560°N 0.177454°W | 1871–1876 | John Henry Foley and Thomas Brock | George Gilbert Scott | Statue | Grade I | Foley was given the commission in 1868 after the death of Carlo Marochetti. Working in the open on the model gave Foley the sickness which ultimately killed him in 1874, and the work was completed by his pupil Brock. [18] |
| Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates | Date | Artist / designer | Architect / other | Type | Designation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 More images | Elfin Oak | Kensington Gardens 51°30′31″N0°11′17″W / 51.5087°N 0.1880°W | 1930 | Ivor Innes | — | Sculptures | Grade II | [31] |
| Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates | Date | Artist / designer | Architect / other | Type | Designation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Lion and Unicorn | Kensington Palace (entrance) 51°30′09″N0°11′15″W / 51.5026°N 0.1876°W | Probably 18th century | ? | — | Statues | Grade II | [32] |
 More images | Statue of Queen Victoria | Kensington Palace 51°30′19″N0°11′10″W / 51.5054°N 0.1861°W | 1893 | Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll | — | Statue | Grade II | Sculpted by the Queen's daughter, the statue portrays Victoria aged 18 and wearing her coronation robes. The statue was a gift from the Kensington Golden Jubilee Memorial Executive Committee. [33] |
 More images | Statue of William III | Kensington Palace 51°30′17″N0°11′15″W / 51.5046°N 0.1874°W | 1907 | Heinrich Baucke | Aston Webb | Statue | Grade II | A gift from Kaiser Wilhelm II. [34] |
| Statue of Diana, Princess of Wales | Sunken Garden | 2017 | Ian Rank-Broadley | — | Sculptural group | — | Unveiled 1 July 2021, which would have been Diana's 60th birthday, by her sons Princes William and Harry, who commissioned the work. [35] |
Hyde Park is a 350 acres (140 ha), historic Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Park, past Buckingham Palace to St James's Park. Hyde Park is divided by the Serpentine and the Long Water lakes.
Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde Park, in western central London known as the West End. The gardens cover an area of 107 hectares. The open spaces of Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James's Park together form an almost continuous "green lung" in the heart of London. Kensington Gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Sir William Hamo Thornycroft was an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster. He was a keen student of classical sculpture and was one of the youngest artists to be elected to the Royal Academy, in 1882, the same year the bronze cast of Teucer was purchased for the British nation under the auspices of the Chantrey Bequest.
The Serpentine is a 40-acre (16 ha) recreational lake in Hyde Park, London, England, created in 1730 at the behest of Queen Caroline. Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, the name refers in the strict sense only to the eastern half of the lake. Serpentine Bridge, which marks the boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, also marks the Serpentine's western boundary; the long and narrow western half of the lake is known as the Long Water. The Serpentine takes its name from its snakelike, curving shape, although it only has one bend.
Albert Toft was a British sculptor.
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the "Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner. During his career Boehm maintained a large studio in London and produced a significant volume of public works and private commissions. A speciality of Boehm's was the portrait bust; there are many examples of these in the National Portrait Gallery. He was often commissioned by the Royal Family and members of the aristocracy to make sculptures for their parks and gardens. His works were many, and he exhibited 123 of them at the Royal Academy from 1862 to his death in 1890.
The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, and Serpentine North, previously known as the Sackler Gallery. The gallery spaces are within five minutes' walk of each other, linked by the bridge over the Serpentine Lake from which the galleries get their names. Their exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract up to 1.2 million visitors a year. Admission to both galleries is free. The CEO is Bettina Korek, and the artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Sir George James Frampton, was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combining various materials such as marble and bronze in a single piece. While his later works were more traditional in style, Frampton had a prolific career in which he created many notable public monuments, including several statues of Queen Victoria and later, after World War I, a number of war memorials. These included the Edith Cavell Memorial in London, which, along with the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens are possibly Frampton's best known works.
Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor, is a British-Indian sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the UK to begin his art training at Hornsey College of Art and, later, Chelsea School of Art and Design.
Sky Mirror is a public sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor. Commissioned by the Nottingham Playhouse, it is installed outside the theatre in Wellington Circus, Nottingham, England. Sky Mirror is a 6-metre-wide (20 ft)-wide concave dish of polished stainless steel weighing 10 tonnes and angled up towards the sky. Its surface reflects the ever-changing environment.
Queen's Gate is a street in South Kensington, London, England. It runs south from Kensington Gardens' Queen's Gate to Old Brompton Road, intersecting Cromwell Road.
Frederick William Pomeroy was a prolific British sculptor of architectural and monumental works. He became a leading sculptor in the New Sculpture movement, a group distinguished by a stylistic turn towards naturalism and for their works of architectural sculpture. Pomeroy had several significant public works in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, notably in Belfast. His work in London includes the figure of Lady Justice (1905–1906) on the dome of the Old Bailey.
Cecil Balmond OBE is a British Sri Lankan designer, artist, and writer. In 1968, Balmond joined Ove Arup & Partners, leading him to become deputy chairman. In 2000, he founded design and research group, the AGU . He currently holds the Paul Philippe Cret Chair at PennDesign as Professor of Architecture where he is also the founding director of the Non Linear Systems Organization, a material and structural research unit. He has also been Kenzo Tange Visiting Design Critic at Harvard Graduate School of Architecture (2000), Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Architecture (1997-2002) and visiting fellow at London School of Economics Urban Cities Programme (2002-2004).
The ArcelorMittal Orbit is a 114.5-metre (376-foot) sculpture and observation tower in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. It is Britain's largest piece of public art, and is intended to be a permanent lasting legacy of London's hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, assisting in the post-Olympics regeneration of the Stratford area. Sited between the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre, it allows visitors to view the whole Olympic Park from two observation platforms.
Physical Energy is a bronze equestrian statue by the English artist George Frederic Watts. Watts was principally a painter, but also worked on sculptures from the 1870s. Physical Energy was first cast in 1902, two years before his death, and was intended to be Watts's memorial to "unknown worth". Watts said it was a symbol of "that restless physical impulse to seek the still unachieved in the domain of material things". The original plaster maquette is at the Watts Gallery, and there are four full-size bronze casts: one in London, one in Cape Town, one in Harare and one soon to be sited at Watts Gallery - Artists' Village in Compton, Surrey. Other smaller bronze casts were also made after Watts's death.
