Beeldengroep aan de voet van het Albert Memorial in Londen: Europa 1878 - 1890

Editor: Okay, next up is a photograph, taken sometime between 1878 and 1890, by Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart. It captures the sculpture "Europe," which sits at the base of the Albert Memorial in London. The three crowned female figures give off this grand, allegorical vibe. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Oh, how I adore these grand allegories! Stuart, by photographing this segment of the memorial, really encapsulates a certain Victorian ideal, doesn't he? We see Europe represented, not as a continent wrestling with its identity (as perhaps we see it now), but as this powerful, almost divinely appointed entity. The women, each a stand-in for a facet of European identity – perhaps strength, wisdom, and artistic vision – all unified. It’s so different than how one might see the topic these days. Don't you find it... aspirational, in a slightly over-the-top way? Editor: Definitely. It’s so…confident. All that neoclassical drapery adds to that, I think. And is that a bull? Curator: Ah, the bull! Spot on. It’s Zeus in disguise, of course, carrying Europa away to Crete. Even the *story* is about appropriation, isn’t it? He, he! It adds this whole layer of classical myth, grounding Europe in this long, arguably stolen, history. Makes you wonder what story a 21st-century monument to Europe might tell. Editor: I hadn't even thought of the Zeus connection! So it's about power, history, *and* maybe a touch of dubious origins? Curator: Precisely! And Stuart, in freezing this moment in time with his camera, invites us to both admire and perhaps even question the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. It’s both celebration and, perhaps unintentionally, a bit of a provocation. Editor: Wow. Okay, I definitely see it differently now. Thanks for unpacking that! Curator: My absolute pleasure! Now, off to more allegories, I hope?