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After Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896): A patinated bronze figure of 'The Sluggard' Possibly cast by the Morris foundry at the time of its amalgamation with the J.W. Singer foundry, circa 1927 or thereafter image 1
After Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896): A patinated bronze figure of 'The Sluggard' Possibly cast by the Morris foundry at the time of its amalgamation with the J.W. Singer foundry, circa 1927 or thereafter image 2
After Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896): A patinated bronze figure of 'The Sluggard' Possibly cast by the Morris foundry at the time of its amalgamation with the J.W. Singer foundry, circa 1927 or thereafter image 3
After Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896): A patinated bronze figure of 'The Sluggard' Possibly cast by the Morris foundry at the time of its amalgamation with the J.W. Singer foundry, circa 1927 or thereafter image 4
After Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896): A patinated bronze figure of 'The Sluggard' Possibly cast by the Morris foundry at the time of its amalgamation with the J.W. Singer foundry, circa 1927 or thereafter image 5
Lot 152TP

After Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896): A patinated bronze figure of 'The Sluggard'
Possibly cast by the Morris foundry at the time of its amalgamation with the J.W. Singer foundry, circa 1927 or thereafter

Fine Decorative Arts
5 July 2024, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £9,600 inc. premium

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After Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896): A patinated bronze figure of 'The Sluggard'

Possibly cast by the Morris foundry at the time of its amalgamation with the J.W. Singer foundry, circa 1927 or thereafter
The nude male stretching, on integral square base, entitled 'THE SLUGGARD' and with facsimile signature Fred. Leighton to the rear corner, the reverse with raised cast letter and number M 1st mark, 53cm high overall

Footnotes

Provenance
By family repute thought to have been acquired by the vendor's Grandfather when working as a foundryman at the Morris Singer Foundry in Lambeth, London, possibly prior to the Second World War.
Thence by family descent.

Although perhaps better known as a fashionable Royal Academy painter of the late 19th century, Leighton took up sculpture in the 1870s and today is regarded as the father of New Sculpture in England. Leighton's Sluggard, also known as 'Athlete Awakening from Sleeping', was first executed in 1882. The Italian model Giuseppe Valona who had posed for 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python' was again used by Leighton to pose for 'The Sluggard'.

Although firstly modelled in clay, a more refined life-size plaster was later exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886 and this was awarded a medal of honour when it was shown at the Paris Exposition Universelle three years later. A bronze cast of this plaster, acquired by Henry Tate in 1896, is now in the Tate Gallery. The work later became the basis for one of the most popular Victorian statuettes when reduced-scale bronze editions were made by Arthur Leslie Collie and cast by the Singer Foundry.

As the base of the cast to the offered lot lacks both the Arthur Leslie Collie edition and the J. W. Singer foundry marks, this suggests that it was cast on or after the time that the Singer foundry of Frome, Somerset and the Morris Art Bronze Foundry of Lambeth amalgamated in 1927 to create the Morris Singer Foundry. This may also explain the M and 1st raised marks to the rear of the base, with a possible hypothesis being that the M may represent the first letter of the Morris name with the 1st being an indication of an experimental or early test cast at the London branch of the foundry.

Related Literature
S. Beattie, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, cat. nos.39 and 59, p.189 and p.260.
S. Jones, C. Newall, et al., Frederic, Lord Leighton: Eminent Victorian Artist, Royal Academy of Arts, 1996.

Additional information

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