Cupids as Caryatids
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
London, United Kingdom
RoomSculpture, Room 22, The Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the sculpture
This terracotta relief together with its pendant (Mus.no. 7717-1863) were made as sketch models for a larger composition in marble; this may have been a doorway, a grand chimneypiece, or perhaps a monument. Part of the finished work is in the Museum's collection (A.4-1990).
Read on
Rysbrack was born in Antwerp, and trained in the Netherlands, but spent his working life in Britain. He was one of the most important sculptors active in this country in the first half of the 18th century, and specialised in portrait busts and funerary monuments. Although he never visited Italy, many of his works are clearly indebted to classical archetypes. His terracotta models are particularly fine, and are often virtually finished pieces in their own right. Here it is interesting to note the slight changes which took place between the design of the terracotta relief and the final marble, especially in the areas of the moulding.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 7718-1863
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
