Sir Thomas Brock RA (1847 - 1922)
RA Collection: Art
On free display in Main Stairs
Although Gainsborough holds a palette daubed with paint, his dignified stance suggests he is posing rather than at work. Brock was commissioned by Tate to create a marble statue of Gainsborough in 1906 (N02074). In 1934 the Royal Academy commissioned this bronze cast, which was taken from the model for the marble. The bronze was commissioned for a niche on the main stairs, opposite a statue of Turner by William McMillan RA. The statues of Gainsborough and Turner were to replace plaster casts of classical female figures known as the Venus of Medici (03/1481) and the Townley Venus (03/1483), which were instead placed in the Royal Academy Schools. Gainsborough and Turner were selected as examples of important past Royal Academicians.
211 cm x 93 cm x 76 cm