13th Mar, 2025 10:30
Spring Specialist Sale
Attributed to Lord Frederic Leighton - Bronze maquette, 'An Athlete wrestling a python'
Attributed to Lord Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA, RWS, (British, 1830-1896) - 19th century patinated bronze maquette, 'An Athlete Wrestling A Python', the figure on naturalistic rectangular base with one projecting front corner, unsigned, brown patina, 24cm high
Private collection, Bristol.
For a similar plaster maquette of this 1874 version with matching projecting base, see https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72873/athlete-struggling-with-a-python-statuette-leighton-frederic-lord/ where stated:
"This is the reduced preliminary cast for Leighton's full-size bronze called Athlete Struggling with a Python in Tate Britain, London. The original clay model from which this plaster was cast was handed by Leighton to another leading painter and sculptor, G. F. Watts, who arranged for it to be cast. The model has since disappeared."
For a matching bronze donated in 1941, see National Museum of Wales, NMW A 188:
https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/a2f0ca17-18a0-3e02-b2bc-90eff153a16b/Athlete-struggling-with-a-python/?index=3
https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/a2f0ca17-18a0-3e02-b2bc-90eff153a16b/Athlete-struggling-with-a-python/?index=3
The finished (1877) bronze features a rectangular base without projecting corner, thus our example is likely based on the 1874 version..
Whilst Leighton had already achieved fame in the field of painting, his success in sculptural terms began in 1877 with the debut of 'Athlete Wrestling with a Python' at the Royal Academy. At the time of exhibition, it was also alternatively known to reviewers as 'An Athlete Strangling a Python' and 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python'. Acclaimed by both critics and the public, it led Leighton to be proclaimed as 'the father of the English New Sculpture movement'.
From contemporary interviews which Leighton made with the Studio magazine in the early 1890's, he originally modelled the piece, using the professional sitter, Angelo Colorosi, as a small-scale clay figure. However, he developed a large-scale bronze, assisted by his protégé, Thomas Brock (1847-1922); the full-size model was first executed in plaster, and then cast in bronze by Cox & Son, before it too was exhibited at the Royal Academy.
The sculpture's popularity was confirmed when it was purchased on behalf of the Tate by the Chantrey Bequest, and it won the gold medal at the prestigious Exposition Universelle in Paris the following year.
Reductions of the bronze were posthumously published in edition casts of two similar sizes between 1903-1910. The first edition was published by Arthur Collie (of Frome, Somerset). The second edition was published by Ernest Brown and Phillips at the Leicester Galleries. In 1909, The Magazine of Art announced that the Leicester Galleries were to publish Leighton's 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python' in an unspecified limited edition.
Sold for £11,000
Attributed to Lord Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA, RWS, (British, 1830-1896) - 19th century patinated bronze maquette, 'An Athlete Wrestling A Python', the figure on naturalistic rectangular base with one projecting front corner, unsigned, brown patina, 24cm high
Private collection, Bristol.
For a similar plaster maquette of this 1874 version with matching projecting base, see https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72873/athlete-struggling-with-a-python-statuette-leighton-frederic-lord/ where stated:
"This is the reduced preliminary cast for Leighton's full-size bronze called Athlete Struggling with a Python in Tate Britain, London. The original clay model from which this plaster was cast was handed by Leighton to another leading painter and sculptor, G. F. Watts, who arranged for it to be cast. The model has since disappeared."
For a matching bronze donated in 1941, see National Museum of Wales, NMW A 188:
https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/a2f0ca17-18a0-3e02-b2bc-90eff153a16b/Athlete-struggling-with-a-python/?index=3
https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/a2f0ca17-18a0-3e02-b2bc-90eff153a16b/Athlete-struggling-with-a-python/?index=3
The finished (1877) bronze features a rectangular base without projecting corner, thus our example is likely based on the 1874 version..
Whilst Leighton had already achieved fame in the field of painting, his success in sculptural terms began in 1877 with the debut of 'Athlete Wrestling with a Python' at the Royal Academy. At the time of exhibition, it was also alternatively known to reviewers as 'An Athlete Strangling a Python' and 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python'. Acclaimed by both critics and the public, it led Leighton to be proclaimed as 'the father of the English New Sculpture movement'.
From contemporary interviews which Leighton made with the Studio magazine in the early 1890's, he originally modelled the piece, using the professional sitter, Angelo Colorosi, as a small-scale clay figure. However, he developed a large-scale bronze, assisted by his protégé, Thomas Brock (1847-1922); the full-size model was first executed in plaster, and then cast in bronze by Cox & Son, before it too was exhibited at the Royal Academy.
The sculpture's popularity was confirmed when it was purchased on behalf of the Tate by the Chantrey Bequest, and it won the gold medal at the prestigious Exposition Universelle in Paris the following year.
Reductions of the bronze were posthumously published in edition casts of two similar sizes between 1903-1910. The first edition was published by Arthur Collie (of Frome, Somerset). The second edition was published by Ernest Brown and Phillips at the Leicester Galleries. In 1909, The Magazine of Art announced that the Leicester Galleries were to publish Leighton's 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python' in an unspecified limited edition.
Auction: Spring Specialist Sale, 13th Mar, 2025
Our Spring Specialist Sale of Fine Furniture, Modern Design, Paintings, Prints, Silver, Jewellery, Watches, Ceramics, Glassware & other Collectors
Highlights include a Dame Lucie Rie (1902-1995), porcelain bowl, an Art Deco diamond and platinum brooch, a Bristol orphanage Victorian needlework sampler, and a fine selection of Rolex, Omega, and Cartier watches.
Viewing
Wednesday 12th March - 10am till 5pm
