Monument to Charles James Fox

Westmacott’s principal work is the monument for the statesman Charles James Fox (1749-1806), who had been a Member of the Parliament, became a lord of the Admiralty, and from 1772-74 was a commissioner of the Treasury. Among his notable merits were his attempts to abolish the slave trade and his support for the rights of the North American colonies.

Westmacott pictorialized three basic elements of Fox’s political career. Fox dies in the arms of the allegory of Liberty (the high point of the group); leaning over his feet is the mourning allegory of Peace; and the African squats before him for his forceful intervention on behalf of his race.