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Lot 127

Sir William Reid Dick, R.A., Scottish (1879-1961)
A bronze figure of 'The Catapult' or 'Slingboy'

15 April 2008, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £2,160 inc. premium

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Sir William Reid Dick, R.A., Scottish (1879-1961)
A bronze figure of 'The Catapult' or 'Slingboy'

the young boy standing on an oval naturalistic base, signed Reid Dick, green-brown patination, on veined green marble rectangular shallow plinth base, 35cm high (13.75" high)

Footnotes

Provenance: Gifted by Sir William Reid Dick to the vendor's father.


Literature:
H. Granville Fell, Sir William Reid Dick, K.C.V.O., R.A., London, 1945, pl. 2.
J. Cooper, Nineteenth Century Romantic Bronzes: French, English and American Bronzes 1830-1915


The above model was exhibited by Reid Dick at the Royal Academy in 1911. Two versions are known. Giovanni Galziia for the Parlanti foundry cast a half size version and a larger version; the present example is half size.

Born in Glasgow, Reid Dick studied at the Glasgow School of Art and City and Guilds School in Kennington London. Exhibiting at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Sculptors, he established himself as leading figure amongst his contemporaries in the field of British sculpture and was knighted in 1935.

Sir Willian Reid Dick specialised in human and animal figures and was also commissioned to create various portraits. In the 'Slingboy' he has channelled the realism he employed for his many lifelike portraits into an idealised expression of male youth. The piece was described by Granville Fell as a 'well-balanced, tense figure, precise in modelling'. (Granville Fell, pl. 2).

Reid Dick became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1921, and was elected president of the Royal Society of British Sculptors from 1933-1938. He was appointed Sculptor in Ordinary to King George VI as well as Queen Elizabeth II and many of his works can be found in London's Parks and Squares, notably the bronze of George V opposite the House of Parliament, the Statue of Roosevelt in Grosvenor Square and the eagle atop the Royal Air Force Monument on The Embankment.

The piece recalls elements of Gilbert's Perseus Arming (1881-2), (see lot 121) created some three decades previous.

For a similar example see Christie's, 7th June 2007, lot 35.

Additional information

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