Description
SIR WILLIAM HAMO THORNYCROFT (ENGLISH, 1850-1925): A RARE AND IMPORTANT LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF GENERAL GORDON depicting standing at ease, with one foot resting on a broken cannon. his chin sunk in his right hand and his left hand clasping his pocket bible, tucked beneath the left arm his short cane and at his back a pair of field glasses, dark brown / greenish patination, signed 'HAMO THORNYCROFT R.A. SC 1888', 92cm high Provenance: Purchased by the current vendor's father, John Powell, at least twenty years ago. Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB (1833-1885) Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and major figure in military history, glorified at the time by the Victorians as a great hero. He began his military career in the Crimea, on the front line mapping Russian trenches, which was one of the most dangerous and demanding duties at the time. He was present at the siege of Sevastopol and was awarded Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the Government of France in 1856 for his services. His next post was in China as part of the Allied Expeditionary Force that was fighting the 2nd Opium War. Having made peace with the Chinese Emperor he was made commander of the "Ever Victorious Army," a force of Chinese mercenaries led by European officers that defeated the Taiping Rebellion, a victory which lead to him being known as 'Chinese Gordon'. He reputedly led the E.V.A. into battle carrying nothing but his cane, whether true or not this idea of Gordon as a brave and almost nonchalant character certainly added to his heroic reputation at home and is alluded to in the present composition where he is shown deep in thought, holding his cane rather than a rifle or other arms. His cane became known as his 'wand of victory'. Gordon entered the service of the Khedive in 1873 with British government approval and later became the Governor-General of the Sudan, where he did much to suppress the slave trade which helped to confirm his reputation as an honourable, heroic commander, admired by the native troops in whichever region he was appointed. In 1880 he was appointed Private Secretary to the Viceroy of India, and also became known for championing the cause of native rule in many countries such as Botswana, South Africa and Ireland. His final posting was to the Sudan, the organise the removal of British and Egyptian troops down the Nile after the revolt there. He arrived in Khartoum in 1884 under orders to arrange the evacuation, however he ignored these orders believing the evacuation to be too dangerous due to a lack of suitable boats. When Khartoum was besieged a public outcry demanded a relief mission be sent to rescue Gordon and the troops, however this was refused by Gladstone until it was too late and Gordon and many of his troops were killed. To the general public it seemed that their revered hero had been deserted in his time of need and there was a huge backlash against Gladstone and a great outpouring of grief for the valiant General. It was against this dramatic backdrop that the question of a memorial to the General was discussed by the government along with prominent members of the Royal Academy. Several members of the Royal Academy advised that the monument should take the form of an allegorical subject, however this advice was ignored and the Office of Works formally commissioned Thornycroft to produce the statue. It was to be erected in Trafalgar Square at a cost of £3,600. The ten foot eight inches high bronze figure was to be raised on an elaborate pedestal eighteen feet high (3.3 meters and 5.5 meters high respectively). The whole aspect of the statue explained Thornycroft, 'I wished to be resolute, solitary, but not sad'. The monumental bronze was cast by the Thames Ditton foundry under the direction of James Moore. It was no coincidence that the sculptor selected this foundry, as Moore had been a foundry assistant to Thornycroft during the 1870s and had maintained links with the sculptor over the following years. In fact Thornycroft described Mr Moore of Thames Ditton as his bronze founder in a court case in 1882 (Reynolds's Newspaper 17 December 1882). By 1882 Moore had taken over the Thames Ditton foundry and it became 'Moore & Co.' until 1897. James Moore was also responsible for the second monumental bronze that was commissioned and paid for by public subscription in Melbourne, Australia and unveiled in June 1889. The ideals Gordon was felt to imbue, those of courage, self sacrifice, faith and charity, as well as the fact that he died doing his duty made him an important figure in Australian culture as well as in Great Britain, leading one newspaper at the time to describe the unveiling of the statue in Melbourne as 'rather the canonising of a saint than the crowning of a hero'. Gordon is depicted in a crumpled army jacket, his belt undone and lacking a sword or weapon, ignoring all of the usual conventions of how to depict a military figure. This arguably expresses Gordon's dislike of bloodshed and the human suffering of war, he is instead portrayed as thoughtful, and with bible in hand, saint-like, his cane as his attribute. In 1943 the London statue was removed from Trafalgar square to make way for a Lancaster bomber as part of a 'Wings for Victory' display. The statue was returned after the war but in 1947 it was proposed to move the statue permanently to make way for the new fountains being built as part of the Beatty and Jellicoe memorials. The government suggested moving the monument to Sandhurst but there was a public outcry, and it was subsequently agreed that the sculpture should move to the Victoria Embankment by the new Air Ministry offices where it was installed in 1953 and remains today. Both the London and Melbourne bronze monuments are signed 'HAMO THORNYCROFT ARA SC. 1887', as Thornycroft was not admitted to the R.A. until the year after, 1888. The present bronze is signed 'Hamo Thornycroft RA SC. 1888' and so was cast the same year as he was made R.A. and that the memorial was unveiled. However the maquette for the present bronze reduction may have been produced a few years earlier whilst the sculptor was designing the full size version, as is demonstrated by the existence of the contemporary photograph reproduced here. This photograph dated 15 October 1887 is now in the National Portrait Gallery and shows the sculptor seated beside his full size monumental figure, with a reduction of the same sculpture in the background. We know that the monumental figure is 330cm high, and so using this figure as a reference point, the size difference between the larger and smaller sculptures can be calculated giving us an approximate height for the reduced figure in the background. Using two reference points on each of the two figures, of the ankle on the right leg and the top of the head, the smaller figure is approximately 20.5% the height of larger. Based on the height of the larger figure (330cm) this would make the smaller figure approximately 70cm high. This however does not take into account the perspective distortion of the Victorian photograph; the further back into the background of the photograph the smaller the item will appear on the image. Using an approximate estimate of the photograph perspective reduction of 15-25% this would put the actual size of the reduced sculpture much closer to the 92cm of the present lot. It is therefore probable that this is the maquette for the present bronze. We Know that Thornycroft produced his own reductions of the figure because records show that in 1889 he exhibited a bronze reduction of General Gordon at the Royal Academy, marked for sale at £10.The sculptor was praised at the time by both 'Portfolio' and 'Magazine of Art' for reviving an interest in sculpture among the art loving public, by producing reductions of the famous monumental works of the day, the artist was allowing those 'with shallow purses and narrow homes' to benefit from his work. 'Magazine of Art' wrote 'If sculpture is to become a popular art, there can be no doubt that it will become so through the publication of reductions of well-known works such as these'. Other reductions of the monument are known but they are all of small size (37cm high) and were cast as part of a series in 1889 by Arthur Leslie Collie. This small series of limited edition bronze reductions of famous works also included Onslow Ford's figure of 'Peace' and were sold at Collie's gallery. These casts are signed 'PUBLISHED BY ARTHUR LESLIE COLLIE, 39B OLD BOND ST LONDON MAY 6 1889' and numerous examples have come to auction in recent years (for example, Bonhams, London, lot 274, 21 June 2016) and an example is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Related Literature: S. Beattie, 'The New Sculpture', p.187 - 191 and p. 203 - 206.
