TEUCER (NUDE VERSION)
Sir William Hamo Thornycroft (English, 1850-1925)
Height 16.5" (41.5cm)
Signed Hamo Thornycroft Hamo Thornycroft 1919
Bronze, rich dark brown patination
Teucer was first exhibited at the Royal Academy as a lifesize plaster in 1881 and in bronze in 1882. It was recieved with great acclaim, a contemporary critic, Miss Zimmern, was moved to comment, “There has rarely been such unanimity of applause as greeted this statue...it is very easy to admit that recent times have shown us nothing in England to compare with it.”
Thornycroft had planned to do a series of figures representing the various athletic sports, starting in 1880 with his Putting the Stone; in Teucer he combined this ideal with the romance of classical mythology so popular with the The New School artists. Apart from its natural aesthetic beauty, the tremendous strength in the modelling of the muscles and the capturing of an instant in time as the arrow is released, the work was a landmark in sculpture maintaining a perfect balance despite it revolutionary right-angled form.
The subject of Teucer is taken from the Iliad, he was the archer who fired at Hector eight times, shown in this work he has just released his last arrow and is captured in that moment of intense concentration as he watches it fly towards its target. The model for the sculpture was the Italian Orazio Cervi who also modelled for Thornycroft's Mower of 1884.
The edition, limited to just twenty-five casts, was made under the personal supervision of the artist and are all slightly different and therefore unique works of art. This cast is signed in the wax and then again with the date of casting, 1919, in pencil on the underside, showing that the sculptor supervised and attended the casting of each piece he created. This cast is also an example of the original nude version, Thornycroft made a version covered with a fig leaf for the version that was exhibited publicly.
Literature
M.H.Spielman, British Sculpture and Sculptors of Today,London 1901, p.36-44
E.Manning, Marble and Bronze, The Art and Life of Hamo Thornycroft, London 1982, p.14-18
S.Beattie, The New Sculpture, New Haven, 1983, fig.140, p.146-9
Michael Forrest, Art Bronzes, Schiffer Publishing, West Chester 1988, illu p.329