AN HISTORICALLY INTERESTING COMMEMORATIVE CENTENARY BRONZE O...

Hammer

£185,000

AN HISTORICALLY INTERESTING COMMEMORATIVE CENTENARY BRONZE OF LORD NELSON BY PRINCESS LOUISE, DUCHESS OF ARGYLL, 1906

Nelson modelled full length holding a telescope and standing by a bitt on hexagonal base, signed and dated Louise 1906 -- 26in. (66cm.) high

James Harradine of Bermondsey, suppliers of bronze to the founders H. Young & Co. Ltd., 1906, and thence by family descent.

This bronze is a duplicate of the example held by the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth (Item No. 1973/144) which, until this model surfaced recently, was thought to be the only example cast by Queen Victoria's talented youngest daughter. In fact, the firm that supplied the raw materials to her chosen founders, Henry Young & Co., persuaded them to run off a secret second copy before they destroyed the mould. This version was kept, with some trepidation, by the family, until recently re-discovered in an attic where it seems to have languished for most of its existence. Henry Young & Co. also executed work for Alfred Stevens and Joseph Edgar Boehm.

The sculptress, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848-1939), the sixth child of Victoria & Albert was an artistically gifted young lady and worked in watercolour, marble and bronze. An extensive group of watercolours is located at Windsor Castle, and her full-sized statue of her mother, Queen Victoria, still stands outside Kensington Palace. The date on this bronze suggests she was somewhat 'caught out' by the national furore that surrounded the centenary of Trafalgar, but the result does not disappoint and she has given Nelson a less formidable air than he has in other examples, depicted hatless but otherwise in full dress with orders and decorations, and carrying a telescope giving him a humane but busy appearance, one which resonates with contemporary accounts.

Fine condition, recently cleaned.