The Mower was based on a sketch of a young man working in the fields, drawn by Thornycroft while he was boating down a river. Tate Britain has another version with the scythe held downwards in the manner of the final model, and another cast dated 1884 was exhibited at The Fine Art Society's exhibition, British Sculpture 1850–1914, 1968 (164) and again in Gibson to Gilbert: British Sculpture 1840–1914 (57).
The final model was exhibited in plaster at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1884 and in bronze in 1894. A life-size version of The Mower, also exhibited at the RA in 1884, is now in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
Literature
Marion Harry Spielman, British Sculpture and The Sculptors of Today (London, 1901) pp. 36–44; c.f.
Elfrida Manning, The Art and Life of Hamo Thornycroft (London, 1982) p. 16 figs. 4, 5, p. 90 figs. 57, 58, p. 207 (152);
Susan Beattie, The New Sculpture (New Haven and London, 1983) fig.141, pp. 149–50
