Marble on onyx base
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/frederick-william-pomeroy-429" aria-label="More by Frederick William Pomeroy" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Frederick William Pomeroy</a>
Nymph Loch Awe
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1897
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
birth to death
death
diseases and conditions
drowned
fairy
female
lake
literature and fiction
lying down
magic and occultism
nudes
people
religion and belief
Scottish folklore
sleeping
society
tales, legends and traditional
water: inland
wave
woman
<p>This subject was based on an old legend explaining the origin of Loch Awe in the Scottish Highlands. A nymph was asked to watch a magic well to check that the water did not rise above a certain height. She fell asleep, the water rose and she drowned. Dead or dying female figures lying prostrate on the ground were a popular subject in French art at this time. But they were usually more sensuous than Frederick Pomeroy’s figure. In contrast, he arranges the woman’s limbs to emphasise the weight and vulnerability of her body.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
sculpture marble onyx
20 March 2009 – 17 October 2010
2010-10-17
20 March 2009 – 17 October 2010
2010-10-17
2009-03-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-03-20
New Sculpture
Collection based display
3 May 2013 – 29 March 2015
2015-03-29
3 May 2013 – 29 March 2015
2015-03-29
2013-05-03
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-05-03
Gallery 8
Collection based display
The Nymph of Loch Awe
object: 267 × 641 × 229 mm  weight 55.6kg
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1897
<p>This subject was based on an old legend explaining the origin of Loch Awe in the Scottish Highlands. A nymph was asked to watch a magic well to check that the water did not rise above a certain height. She fell asleep, the water rose and she drowned. Dead or dying female figures lying prostrate on the ground were a popular subject in French art at this time. But they were usually more sensuous than Frederick Pomeroy’s figure. In contrast, he arranges the woman’s limbs to emphasise the weight and vulnerability of her body.
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01759</b> THE NYMPH OF LOCH AWE 1897</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘F.W. Pomeroy Sc-1897’ at back on l.
<br/>Marble, including plinth of Mexican onyx, 10 1/2×25 1/4×9 (26×64×23).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1897.
<br/><i>Exh:</i>
R.A., 1897 (1980); R.A., <i>Late Members</i>, winter 1933 (803).
<br/><i>Lit:</i>
M.H. Spielmann, <i>British Sculpture and Sculptors of To-Day</i>, 1901, pp.116–17, repr.; Kineton Parkes, <i>Sculpture of To-Day</i>, 1921, I, pp.100–1.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Royal Academy Pictures</i>, 1897, p.85; <i>Art Journal</i>, 1897, p. 184.</p>
<p>An old legend explains the origin of Loch Awe as follows: a nymph was set to watch a magic well and to see that the water did not rise above a certain height; she fell asleep, the water rose, and she was drowned.</p>
<p>Spielmann, <i>loc. cit.</i>, points out that the piece is ‘very similar in sentiment and arrangement to M. Dennis Puech's high <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/relief" title="Glossary definition for 'Relief'"><span>relief</span></a> of “Nymphe de la Seine”, exhibited in the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/salon" title="Glossary definition for 'Salon'"><span>Salon</span></a> in 1895’.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults birth to death death diseases and conditions drowned fairy female lake literature and fiction lying down magic and occultism nudes people religion and belief Scottish folklore sleeping society tales, legends and traditional water: inland wave woman