Elizabeth II statue criticised for not resembling her ‘in any shape or form’
https://i.redd.it/keywbuxpb5od1.png
Posted by TheTelegraph
Elizabeth II statue criticised for not resembling her ‘in any shape or form’
https://i.redd.it/keywbuxpb5od1.png
Posted by TheTelegraph
29 comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
A new statue commemorating Elizabeth II has been criticised for not resembling her “in any shape or form”.
The bronze sculpture was unveiled in Antrim Castle Gardens in Northern Ireland on Saturday.
However the statue of the UK’s longest-serving monarch, created by north Belfast artist Anthony Brennan, has been met with mixed reactions.
A statue of Prince Philip was already on display in the parterre garden within Antrim Castle with Queen Elizabeth and her two corgis recently added to the scene.
Vera McWilliam, Antrim and Newtownabbey councillor, told the BBC: “We have to be honest, it does not resemble the [late] Queen in any shape or form.”
Richard, from Antrim, who first saw the statue online and then visited Antrim Castle Gardens to see it in person with his wife said he was “really disappointed”.
He said: “Whoever signed that off needs their eyes tested. It’s not good. I would take it away. It doesn’t do anything in memory for Her Majesty, so definitely I would remove it.”
The sculpture also came under fire in the comments section of a social media post by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council showing the first photos of the sculpture. The comments have since been turned off.
Other visitors were more welcoming of the statue.
Francis, visiting with his wife Marie, said: “It’s great, I think they have it down to a tee.
“They’ve got the [late] Queen as she’s young. I think the two would be very pleased with it. And they’ve got the corgis all round.”
The proposal to commission a sculpture of Queen Elizabeth and her dogs was made in January 2023. A bronze statue of Prince Philip had already been erected in the parterre garden.
During the unveiling of the new statue, Paul Dunlop, the deputy mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, said: “It’s down to personal taste, everyone has their own opinion but it is what the sculpture represents that is important.”
**Full story:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/09/11/queen-elizabeth-statue-bronze-sculpture-antrim-castle/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/09/11/queen-elizabeth-statue-bronze-sculpture-antrim-castle/)
I dunno, looks like a massive waste of money for something merely ornamental to me.
Thats penelope and parker from thunderbirds
It looks like she’s about to defend a free kick
Looks like whoever did that statue just gave up.
I feel sorry for the corgis.
After the Charles pic debacle seems like they have PR problems!
Looks like Xi Jinping.
Wow, that really is pish 😂🤣😅
Jeff Goldblum looks great though!
Edit: sculpture game is gone
No scales eh?
The dogs are pretty good though.
When you don’t value arts or culture at all don’t be surprised that arts and culture deteriorates in quality. This is why education needs to be bigger than stem
She looks like an Eastern European babushka
Looks like her head is on backwards
That’s the best rendition of Elizabeth and her two pet pigs that I’ve ever seen.
What about the promised bank holiday?
Looks like she’s wearing tortoise shell armour too, queen age mutant ninja royal
Thought it was scorpion from mortal kombat
*I hear you’re a racist now, Father*
It’s bad. Not “conscious decision being misunderstood” bad – it’s just a clear lack of skill on the part of a sculptor who, striving for realism, has failed to strike a balance between detail and gesture.
The corgis however stand out as being quite good – the fur and pose are natural whilst avoiding the over emphasis of detail that ruins the figures. If I were to guess I’d say the sculptor is probably an accomplished sculptor of animals OR tends to work at a reduced scale and simply wasn’t able to translate that skill to a larger human likeness. (or more likely they were given a horribly short timeframe and very little money)
Both the figures have an odd flatness – I can practically see how the armature was constructed underneath. A skilled sculptor might accentuate this to a degree – a flat upright figure can seem stoic and indominable, but doing so requires a concession to abstraction that isn’t present here.
Source – Am sculptor.
EDIT – I looked into the artist since I hadn’t heard of him before – It seems he’s only really done one major public commission before and that one, of Jim Larkin, was better but still not great. He mostly seems to have made small scale caricatures and then dabbled in portrait sculpture, but he really isn’t a trained sculptor of much renown. I love the idea of giving these commissions to lesser known artists, but the artist in this case seems to be striving for realism without the technical grounding needed to achieve it. All this leads me to think that the choice of artists was an economic one – someone just known enough to not seem faceless, but not renowned enough to command a hefty fee.
It looks like Harry Enfield doing an old lady bit.
The only thing they have right is Prince Philips’s posture and that’s it, the looks are all wrong and even the Corgi’s have been injected with growth hormones
Looks almost like she’s standing backwards — they’re more like shoulder blades than boobs.
An abomination. The size of those Corgis ! Wooden; stiff; non realistic. Amateurish. A total fail. WHo selected the Artist/ Sculptor ? A Pastry Chef would have created a far better tribute !
It needs to be scrapped and the funds put into an OAP Winter Fuel kitty… Her Majesty would have approved.
Another crap Ebay purchase. When will people learn.
Lol they look like those figures you get for miniature railways.
I mean..
Hahahahaha have you seen the poor Corgi – Looks like he’s had a hot poker up the arse