Portrait of Queen Victoria
First placed in Singapore: 1881
On the grounds of the Istana
The work was for many years in the Victoria Room of the Istana, renamed the State Room after independence. It was moved to Victoria Concert Hall and then the National Museum (where it was kept under wraps in the mid-1980s).
Patron: "the Chinese Community of Singapore"
The work was unveiled to the public in 1995 in a new setting on the grounds of the Istana, official residence of the Head of State of Singapore.The work was restored before its 1995 unveiling. Apparently it needed to be restored because its nose was knocked off. Apparently this occured during some nationalist demonstration of the 1950s or 1960s but I don't have a reference to the exact date.
However the Associated Press in December 1949 reports that the Singapore authorities requested the City of Delhi to give Singapore a large bronze of Victoria which the the city had planned to melt down. The Delhi Municipal Committee, while viewing "British statues with coolness", decided by a narrow margin to keep the sculpture, intending it for a museum.
Text of the Label:
This statue of Queen Victoria was commissioned by the Chinese Community of Singapore in the year of Her Majesty's Jubilee to be placed in the Government House as a Memorial of the general affection of Her Majesty's Chinese Subjects and of their gratitude for the benefits of her rule.
Last updated: Dec-5-2020
