Ten years after Victoria Square was created, a visit by a member of the royal family, Prince Arthur, afforded the opportunity to launch a public subscription for the purpose of erecting a monument to Queen Victoria in the square named after her. The commission was awarded to the London sculptor Marshall Wood.

The artist portrayed Victoria in 1837, when she was ascending to the throne at age 18. Unlike models inspired by classicism, in which royal figures were portrayed as divinities invested with superhuman powers, Wood presents a head of state who is slender, even fragile, in a pose that is simple and solemn. This portrayal of Victoria corresponds perfectly to the symbol of dignity that the queen embodied for her subjects. She is adorned with her royal attributes: she wears the royal crown with five lilies, an element that recalls that France ruled England for centuries. In her dignified pose, she carries in her left hand, at chest height, a laurel crown, and her right hand bears her sceptre, a symbol of royalty. This monument was the second commemorative monument erected in Montreal, after the Nelson column (1809).

Victoria I, the granddaughter of George III, succeeded William IV as monarch of Great Britain and Ireland, from 1837 and 1901, and empress of India, from 1876 to 1901. Her reign, now called the Victorian era, lasted almost 64 years and was marked by the expansion of the British Empire and the industrial revolution. At the time when she ascended to the throne, the empire had just conquered new colonies and it stood alone as the world’s top economic and maritime power. In this context, the queen directed both domestic and foreign affairs, often against her ministers’ advice. Her reign was characterized by the defence and maintenance of conservative values, both political and social.