Bust of 'Teucer', After 1882

Sir Hamo Thornycroft RA (1850 - 1925)

RA Collection: Art

Thornycroft was an early exponent of the New Sculpture movement, which championed a more naturalistic and detailed approach to modelling. Sculptors imbued their work with greater physical energy than many of the neo-classical sculptures of the mid-nineteenth century. They preferred bronze to traditional marble and made full use of the newly rediscovered lost-wax method enabling them to cast small bronzes and statuettes.

The son of the sculptors Thomas and Mary Thornycroft, Hamo Thornycroft trained with his father and at the Royal Academy Schools before travelling to France and Italy. He achieved great success in the 1880 Royal Academy exhibition with his statue 'Artemis and her Hound' (Macclesfield Town Hall) but soon after abandoned classical themes for more modern subjects such as 'The Mower' (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool).

This is a replica of the upper section of the bronze statue exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882, which was purchased under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest and is now in the Tate collection.