Lot 33: f - WILLIAM GOSCOMBE JOHN WELSH, 1860-1952

THE DRUMMER BOY

measurements note
38cm., 15in.

signed: W Goscombe John

bronze, dark brown patina, on ebonised wood base

NOTE

The present figure is a sketch model for a heroic-sized drummer, part of the Memorial to the King's Regiment at Liverpool. A sketch of the whole monument was shown at the Royal Academy in 1904. The following year Goscombe John exhibited the full size version of this figure and then went on to exhibit a bronze version of the sketch model (like the present example) in 1908.

The figure of the drummer refers to the battle of Dettingen in 1743. There is another example of a bronze cast of the sketch model in the Neuchatel Art Gallery, Switzerland. In 1925 Goscombe John wrote that this was one of his best and most popular works.

RELATED LITERATURE
Pearson, pp.39-40, nos.63 & 64