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Title:
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Henry Lionel Lutyens
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Artist: |
Baron Carlo Marochetti
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This is a life-sized
figure of a naked boy of about six or seven years of age, sitting on a rock,
with one raised leg resting on a Grecian helmet, his clasped hands retaining
the raised right leg. The plaster model has received a coat of shellac or
paint, which is chipping off in many places. It is a model which has come down
in the family of the sitter, along with the record that it is a work of
Marochetti. The boy is Henry Lionel Lutyens (1857-1865), elder brother of the
architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens. Both were sons of Charles Augustus Henry
Lutyens (1829-1915), who, between 1848 an 1855 had served in the 20th Foot
Regiment. After his retirement from the army at a relatively early age, he
decided to re-train as a painter. Living in Onslow Square, he met Marochetti,
and through him got to know Sir Edwin Landseer, whose pupil he became,
dedicating himself as an artist to landscape, hunting scenes and decorative
panels in a French mid-eighteenth century style. he had a very large number of
children, two of whom died very young. This was the case with the boy represented
here, who died not long after this fancy portrait was executed. That he was still
alive when it was sculpted is indicated by the survival of a 'life-cast' of his
clasped hands, which was used as an aid in the creation of the full-length
figure. This statue clearly makes reference to the so-called Ludovisi Mars, an Antique statue, whose pose is similar though more relaxed, and has one foot resting on a helmet. Within Marochetti's own oeuvre, a similar juxtaposition of an infant subject with a martial attribute can be found in the marble statue of Prince Arthur, which was commissioned by Prince Albert as a birthday gift for Queen Victoria in 1853.
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Material(s): |
Plaster
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Medium: |
Unassigned |
Finish: |
- |
Technique: |
Cast |
Genre: |
Portrait Statue (Seated)
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Colours: |
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Year: |
1863 |
Height: |
1.8 metres |
Width: |
0 metres |
Depth: |
0 metres |
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Key: |
5804 |
Acc. No.: |
5804 |
Col. No.: |
5804 |
Number of views: |
2731 |
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