Lot 69: LORD RONALD SUTHERLAND GOWER (BRITISH, 1845-1915) MARIE ANTOINETTE LEAVING THE PRISON OF THE CONCIERGERIE ON THE DAY OF HER EXECUTION

Signed R. Gower and initialled L.M. Silvered bronze: 29 cm (11 1/2 in) In March 1875 Gower began studying sculpture in Carrier-Belleuse's studio and immediately modelled two busts of Marie-Antoinette and then a full-length figure of the "unhappy Queen". Gower based his representation on Jacques-Louis David's sketch and relied on the "kind aid and skill" of Luca Madrassi, with whom he shared a studio, in its execution. The marble, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1877, was bought by his brother-in-law, the Duke of Westminster, and remains at Eaton Hall, Cheshire. Gower's bronzes were not published commercially, but were often given as gifts to his friends. In 1878 Gower gave a silvered bronze of Marie Antoinette to Thomas Carlyle. Harold Begbie considered that "it is a figure of which every tragic actress should possess a cast in the room where she studies". Literature: Harold Begbie, "The Statuary of Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower", The Magazine of Art, 1902, p.203-4. Philip Ward-Jackson, "Lord Ronald Gower and the Shakespeare Memorial", European Gay Review, 1987, p.59. Philip Ward-Jackson, "Lord Ronald Gower, Gustave Dore and the genesis of the Shakespeare Memorial at Stratford-on-Avon", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol., L, 1987 p.162-3. We are grateful to Dr. Philip Ward-Jackson for his advice in cataloguing this entry.