Two men fighting

ca. 1807 - 1817 · Relief · 20 × 20.5 cm

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Not receiving at present

Victoria and Albert Museum

London, United Kingdom

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 8 days ago
In this state since: Sep 25, 2026
Source: The museum's own collection data

On the map Museum page

About the sculpture

This terracotta relief depicts two men fighting. To the right is seen the naked figure of a man, lunging forward to grasp his opponent who is seen to the left, by the hands and endeavours to throw him backwards. A signature is incised in cursive in the terracotta at the back FLAXMAN. The composition would seem to be closely related to the Artist's drawings for the Theogony of Hesiod published in 1817 and may perhaps date from that period or the decade previously when Flaxman had been considering this theme.

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John Flaxman (1755-1826) was an English sculptor, designer and teacher. He was the most famous English Neo-classical sculptor of the late 18th century and the early 19th. He focused on monumental sculpture and church monuments and portrait busts. A large collection of his plaster models is held in the Strang Print Room, University College, London. He also made outline illustrations of Homer, Aeschylus and Dante. Many of those in his sketchbooks (now in the V&A) were drawn from the antique while he was in Italy. Furthermore he produced models for pottery and silver supplying the pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood among others. He thus can be considered as an important pioneer in the development of Industrial Design.

Victoria and Albert Museum