Chloe Rivers; Leighton House Museum; Sothebyâs; Christieâshis studio. There was no thought of
exhibiting them.â
An Athlete Wrestling with a Python was
first conceived when Leighton modelled
a 10â12in maquette of a male nude
wrestling with a snake in the same
way he made these other pieces.
It was inspired by the ancient
Greek sculpture the Laocoön
Group which forms part of the
Vatican sculpture collection
and influenced the work
of Michelangelo who
was Leightonâs hero.
There is no explanation
as to why he made
it â a painting of the
subject never materialized â but
it was noticed in Leightonâs studio by
the French sculptor Jules Dalou who
was living in exile in England at the
time. He saw potential in the piece and
encouraged Leighton to turn it into a
full-sized work.
Leighton had neither the space nor
the know-how to do this but the idea
clearly appealed to him. He enlisted the
help of his protégé the young sculptor
Thomas Brock. The finished plasterwork
was cast in bronze and exhibited at the
Royal Academy that same year where
it was received to great acclaim by the
public and the press. It was bought
almost immediately for the Tate by the
Chantry Bequest and won a gold
medal at the prestigious
Exposition Universelle when
shown in Paris.
âThere was extensive
coverage when it came outâThere was awareness on
everyoneâs part that out
of nowhere Leighton had
produced this impressive
dynamic figure
says Robbins. âThere was an awareness
on everyoneâs part that slightly out of
nowhere Leighton had produced this
extremely impressive dynamic figure. It
was recognized as an event as a moment in
time that it was a very accomplished and
striking piece of work. And people were
surprised by it. He hadnât made anything
like this before. He had no track record of
working as a sculptor.âNew sculpture
As well as the public impact the work
made a visible impression on Leightonâs
contemporaries injecting a new vigour
and naturalism into British sculpture. He
was proclaimed the father of the New
Sculpture movement represented by the
likes of Edward Onslow Ford George
Frampton and Hamo Thornycroft. Alfred
Gilbert (famous for his statue of Eros in
Piccadilly Circus) another figure in the
movement was commissioned by Leighton
to make the sculpture Icarus (now in the
collection of the National Museum Wales).
After Leightonâs death Gilbert publicly
acknowledged his debt to him while BrockABOVE Bronze cast
of A Moment of Peril
by sculptor Thomas
Brock which is on
display in the garden
of the Leighton House
Museum. Brock
was inspired by the
sculptural work of
his friend Frederic
Leighton LEFT The
Sluggard (1885)
was the only other
life-size sculpture
created by Leighton.
It is currently on
display as part of
Queer British Art
1861â1967 at Tate
Britain until 1st Oct134 H&A SUMMER 2017