Lot Essay
This bronze was designed by Sir Joseph Boehm to stand at the Corner of the monument to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, at Hyde Park Corner. The monument was unveiled on 21 December 1888 by the Prince of Wales, having been commissioned as part of the re-design of Hyde Park corner which had begun in 1883. It features the Duke of Wellington astride his horse Copenhagen atop a plinth, at each corner of which is a soldier from the four nations of the United Kingdom. The monument was Boehm's most ambitious, expensive and prominently located commission, and was designed by him between 1884-8. Elkington & Co. produced a limited number of the corner figures.