Gleichen, Feodora (1861–1922)
Gleichen, Feodora (1861–1922)
English sculptor. Name variations: Lady Gleichen; Countess Gleichen. Born Feodora Georgina Maud Gleichen in London, England, in 1861; died in 1922; daughter of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Count Gleichen (1833–1891, an admiral and sculptor) and Laura Williamina (Seymour) Gleichen (daughter of Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour); sister of Lord Edward Gleichen (1863–1937, a British general who organized and ran the nascent intelligence bureau in England during World War I); studied with Alphonse Legros.
Taking over her father's studio in St. James's Palace, Countess Feodora Gleichen became a leading sculptor, exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy. Members of the art world and visiting royalty frequented the studio, including Faisal I, king of Iraq, whose bust was sculpted. Gleichen's work can be found in many parts of the world. She designed and carved the Queen Victoria group for the Children's Hospital in Montreal, Canada; the Edward VII Memorial at Windsor, England; the Florence Nightingale Memorial at Derby, England; and the Kitchener Memorial in Khartoum Cathedral, in the Sudan. Though the award was made posthumously, she was the first woman member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. Following her death in 1922, a fund was established to award grants to women sculptors.