Frederic Leighton: Sculpture

"An Athlete Wrestling with a Python"
by Frederic Leighton

"More remarkable than any of his 1877 pictures was Frederic Leighton's bronze sculpture of 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python.' As he produced a series of small plaster models to use as he worked on one of his paintings, he was also inspired to model figures not in the painting, and this particular subject was the result.

The model for the athlete was Angelo Colorosi, Leighton's favourite Italian model, a man of splendid physique, entirely devoted to his employer. The strong man is represented grappling with a serpent, which has coiled itself around his left leg. With his left hand the man tries to free himself from the reptile, which, with his right, he holds at arm's length by the head, endeavouring to squeeze the life out of it. 

Trial efforts in his studio had been warmly approved by Legros, but Leighton's inexperience with the medium was obvious when he tried to enlarge his maquette. He miscalculated its proportions and had to destroy his first plaster. So he sought considerable technical expertise from sculptor Thomas Brock, who occupied a nearby studio.

Leighton presented 'An Athlete Wrestling with a Python" at the Royal Academy in 1877, cast expensively in bronze so that every detail was rendered with permanence. It was placed in the centre of the Lecture Room, facing the central hall which singled it out for special attention. It was immediately recognized as a major work of sculpture and the start of something quite new. Leighton's triumph was cemented by the decision by the Chantrey Trustee's to purchase the work for the nation at a fee of £2,000. It was one of the first purchases, and the first sculpture, bought by the Chantrey Bequest. After such a hiatus, British sculpture gloried in international acclaim the following year when 'An Athlete' won a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. 

Queen Victoria's Sculptor-in-Ordinary, Joseph Boehm, wrote to Leighton in praise: 'The Athlete' is superb. I think it the best statue of modern days. I was riveted with admiration and astonishment.' 

The original bronze cast is displayed alternatively between the Tate Britain and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The Royal Academy owns the original plaster. Three 3 ft. bronze reductions were created and smaller versions just 20 inches high were also sold. A duplicate in marble, the only thing in marble Leighton ever did, was was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen for the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a museum he had founded, then gifted, to the city of Copenhagen in 1888."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lord Leighton of Stretton, P.R.A." by Edgcumbe Staley and a lot essay written for Christies at https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5701814 )