William Theed the younger

Demosthenes

UK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Lot Closed

July 5, 02:50 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from a British Private Collection

William Theed the younger

Trentham 1804-1891 London

dated 1848

After the Antique

Demosthenes

signed and dated: W. THEED. / COPIO. ROMA. 1848.

marble, on a modern bronzed pedestal

marble: 108cm., 42½in.

pedestal: 75 by 51 by 33cm., 29.5 by 20 by 13in.

Richard Cobden (1804-1865), Dunford House, probably by 1852;
Bonhams, London, 28 January 2015, lot 817

I. Roscoe, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, New Haven and London, 2009, p. 1239, no. 50

Trained in the Roman workshops of the neoclassical sculptors Bertel Thorvaldsen and John Gibson, William Theed was profoundly influenced by the antique. The present full-length sculpture of Demosthenes, the Greek statesman and orator, testifies to Theed’s skill and stimulus by classical sculpture. The Roman copy of the Greek original, attributed to Polyeuktos, 3rd century B.C., is in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (inv. no. 2782). The present marble is worked with fine detail throughout, notably in the draping of the garment and in the scroll held in his hands.

The present marble was acquired by Richard Cobden four years after its creation for his estate, Dunford House. The sculpture was made during an important time in Theed's career, when he received the royal patronage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, London, 1968, p. 386-388; I. Roscoe, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain 1660-1851, New Haven and London, 2009, pp. 1236-1243