Thursday, July 6, 2023

Three-Dimensional Artifacts at the Royal Academy

George Stubbs
Écorché Panther
before 1806
plaster relief
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Flaxman
Drama (Ancient)
ca. 1809
plaster modello for marble frieze
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Flaxman
Drama (Modern)
ca. 1809
plaster modello for marble frieze
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Sappho
ca. 1831
plaster modello
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
The Birth of Venus
 received by Celestial Love and crowned by Persuasion

ca. 1840
plaster modello for marble relief
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Meeting of Hero and Leander
ca. 1842
plaster modello for marble relief
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Cupid pursuing Psyche
before 1843
marble relief
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Phaëton driving the Chariot of the Sun
ca. 1846
plaster modello for marble relief
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Hunter and Dog
ca. 1847
plaster modello for marble statue
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Cupid and Psyche
ca. 1859
marble relief
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Wounded Warrior
ca. 1860-65
marble
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Gibson
Love between Beauty and Fortune
before 1866
plaster modello for marble relief
Royal Academy of Arts, London

Frederic, Lord Leighton
Perseus and Pegasus
ca. 1890
plaster modello
(study for painting)
Royal Academy of Arts, London

Arthur George Walker
A Youthful Faun
ca. 1920
marble
Royal Academy of Arts, London

Michelangelo Buonarroti
Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist
(Taddei Tondo)

ca. 1504-1505
marble
Royal Academy of Arts, London

"The Taddei Tondo is the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo in Great Britain.  Commissioned by Taddeo Taddei, it remained in the Casa Taddei, Florence, until the early nineteenth century when it was in the possession of Jean-Baptiste Wicar in Rome.  Sir George Beaumont purchased the sculpture in 1822 and eventually bequeathed it to the Royal Academy.  C.R. Cockerell described seeing the tondo at Beaumont's estate in 1823 as a 'great treat.'  The unfinished state of the relief, with its contrasting rough and smooth surfaces did not deter, but enhanced, his visual enjoyment of it.  He noted in his diary that, 'the subject seems growing from the marble & emerging into life – it assumes by degrees its shape, features from an unformed mass – as it were, you trace & watch its birth from the sculptor's mind as you would an animal from its birth, the chicken breaking thro' its shell – I have seen nothing but this that conveys the idea in the Greek epigram of a sculptor who says I have no merit but discovering the form which lies within the marble – one feels in beholding it to desire still to go on discovering, still to disclose more."

Ancient Greece or Rome
Draped Female Figure
 possibly 375-350 BC
marble
Royal Academy of Arts, London

"This is the only original classical sculpture in the Royal Academy collection, although there is disagreement amongst scholars as to whether it is an original Greek work or a Roman copy.  The subject is unknown – the drapery, clinging to the female torso as if wet, provides a clue, leading to speculation about various mythological figures associated with the sea.  One suggestion is Andromeda, condemned by her father King Cepheus as sacrifice to a sea monster – until her rescue by Perseus. Others incline toward a sea nymph, perhaps from the Temple of Asklepios where similar surviving sculptures are known to have adorned niches. This hypothesis is supported by the unfinished back of the piece. It was given to the Academy by Henry Weekes R.A. in 1855 so that students could study classical art from an original. It subsequently inspired many artists, particularly Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema, although the latter was shocked by what he denounced as neglect on the part of the Academy.  In 1906 he wrote: 'to my great astonishment I find a beautiful antique marble remnant of a statue standing on a two-foot-high pedestal. Of course it is knocked about & with easels etc leaning against it, and if the Council judges it necessary to leave it in the school for study, it ought to be put in a conspicuous place where it can be seen properly & is out of danger."   

– quoted texts adapted from Royal Academy notes