“Teucer” by Sir W. Hamo Thornycroft

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Teucer

Sir W. Hamo Thornycroft, R. A. (1850-1925)

Bronze

29 inches (74 cm.)

Provenance: Gift of the artist to a family member; thence by descent. Formerly collection John Schaeffer, Sydney. Australia

Another cast

Another photograph of this cast

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Commentary by Robert Bowman

Teucer was first exhibited at the Royal Academy as a lifesize plaster in 1881 and in bronze in 1882. The entry was accompanied by a verse from Pope's translation of the Iliad and relates the attempts made by Teucer to kill Hector. 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 its 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 with the original date of the plaster and then again with the date ofthe actual casting ofthis bronze, 1889 and the cast no.6. The second signature is in the wax ofthe bronze and proof that Thomycroft supervised the casting of each ofthese works cast by Herbert Singer of Frome, whom Thornycroft met in 1888. — Robert Bowman

Bibliography

Beattie, Susan. The New Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.

Bowman, Robert. Craft and Creation — 2005. London: Robert Bowman Gallery, 2005, pp. 125-26.

Last modified 24 February 2020