Prince Philip statue branded ‘worst artwork ever seen’ to be torn down by Cambridge Council

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A much-maligned statue of Prince Philip, branded ‘possibly the poorest quality ever seen’, is to be torn down ten years after it was refused planning permission.

The summary sculpture stands outdoors a Cambridge workplace block in honour of the late royal, who spent 35 years as a chancellor on the college.

Since its erection in 2014, the bronze four-metre faceless determine wearing tutorial robes known as the Don has lengthy been a bone of competition within the artwork world and area people alike.

The ‘offensive’ oeuvre got here to fruition regardless of the denial of planning permission from Cambridge Council in 2014.

A plaque underneath the sculpture reads: ‘HRH Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Chancellor University of Cambridge 1977-2011.’

When the statue was unveiled, it brought on such an uproar that no artist wished to declare the piece as their very own.

The Unex Group commissioned the £150,000 piece, and Uruguayan sculptor, Pablo Atchugarry, was believed to be the artist behind the controversy. However, he hit again at claims labelling any suggestion it was his work “an abuse”, the Guardian reported.

Cambridge City Council has issued an enforcement discover to Unex Group demanding the statue to be faraway from  Charter House workplace block by August.

Public artwork officer for the council, Nadine Black, mentioned it was “possibly the poorest quality work that has ever been submitted to the council” and one other critic dubbed it “detritus masquerading as public art”.

She added: ‘It is not site-specific and is a work already purchased and has no relationship to this site. It is too large a scale for the context of the space it will be located within and will compromise the quality of the new development.’

Katie Thornburrow, the chief councillor for planning, constructing management and infrastructure wrote on her web site: “Nobody, apart from the wealthy property developer who commissioned it, seems to have a good word to say about it.

“We will be glad to see it gone, but remain angry that developers could just dump it in place and then force the council to spend officers’ time and money getting them to take it away. We deserve better.”

The elimination discover issued by the Greater Cambridge shared planning service mentioned the statue appeared to seem throughout the final 4 years with out permission and would have to be eliminated inside 4 months of 11 April, until an enchantment was made beforehand.

Bill Gredley, the chairman of Unex group spoke out in help of the work in 2014 and mentioned it was a ‘spectacular piece of art.’

A spokesman for Unex group advised the Mail: ‘Mr Gredley and others take into account it’s a relatively spectacular bronze with a distinction, specifically the pinnacle and form as forged along with the bronze being colored black to resemble the tutorial clothes and mortarboard.”