The monument to the British Lord High Commissioner was controversial even when it was created. Maitland was the top authority on the Ionian Islands in modern-day Greece while they were a British protectorate. Many of the islands’ inhabitants dreamed of a free and united Greece, and after the unveiling of the monument in the town of Zante on the island of the same name, the bust was vandalised. The following year, the War of Greek Independence broke out.
As an artist, Thorvaldsen sought to tone down the clients’ wish to portray Maitland as an ancient Roman commander in armor and a metal helmet. Instead, he depicted him as a bare-headed citizen, emphasising inner values and equality rather than military might and dreams of empire.
During the Second World War, the bust was seized as spoils of war and was probably lost, while the relief on the pedestal was salvaged and is now in Zante City Hall.
