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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-hamo-thornycroft-551" aria-label="More by Sir Hamo Thornycroft" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Hamo Thornycroft</a>
Teucer
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1882
actions: postures and motions
adults
archery
arrow
bow
Cervi, Orazio
classical myths: events, themes
classical myths: gods and heroes
individuals: male
leisure and pastimes
male
man
military
named individuals
nudes
objects
people
portraits
religion and belief
soldier
sport
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Teucer
Trojan War
weapons
work and occupations
<p>The champion Greek archer Teucer was one of the heroes of Homer's story of the Trojan War. When this bronze was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882 a quotation from Pope's translation of Homer was printed in the catalogue, as the subject was unusual. Thornycroft admired the Elgin marbles, and his early works were in a Greek style. With 'Teucer', in emulation of the grandeur of Leighton's 'Athlete', he made a monumental ideal nude.The critic Edmund Gosse wrote that it had 'something almost archaic about its serenity and rigidity...this is courageously realistic'.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
sculpture bronze
3 February 2009 – 25 April 2009
2009-04-25
3 February 2009 – 26 April 2009
2009-04-26
2009-02-03
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-02-03
Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009
Exhibition
1 May 2009 – 3 July 2011
2011-07-03
2 May 2009 – 3 July 2011
2011-07-03
2009-05-02
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2009-05-01
Wayne Hemingway
Collection based display
11 September 2014 – 25 May 2015
2015-05-25
25 February 2015 – 25 May 2015
2015-05-25
2015-02-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-09-11
Sculpture Victorious: Art in an Age of Invention, 1837-1901
Exhibition
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
5 November 2016 – 5 February 2017
2017-02-05
2016-11-05
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
18 March 2017 – 16 July 2017
2017-07-16
2017-03-18
Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand)
11 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
2018-02-04
2017-08-11
Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
24 March 2018 – 24 June 2018
2018-06-24
2018-03-24
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
13 July 2018 – 28 October 2018
2018-10-28
2018-07-13
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
10 November 2023 – 14 April 2024
2024-04-14
2023-11-10
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
1 April 2025 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
2025-04-01
External
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
Teucer
object: 2407 × 1511 × 660 mm, 230 kg
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> 1882
<p>The champion Greek archer Teucer was one of the heroes of Homer's story of the Trojan War. When this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882 a quotation from Pope's translation of Homer was printed in the catalogue, as the subject was unusual. Thornycroft admired the Elgin marbles, and his early works were in a Greek style. With 'Teucer', in emulation of the grandeur of Leighton's 'Athlete', he made a monumental ideal nude.<br/>The critic Edmund Gosse wrote that it had 'something almost archaic about its serenity and rigidity...this is courageously realistic'.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01751</b> TEUCER 1881
<br/>
<br/>Inscr. ‘Hamo Thornycroft 1881’ on top of base and ‘Teucer’ on front of base.
<br/>Bronze, 94 3/4×59 1/2×26 (240·5×151×66), including circular base, diameter 26 (66), height 6 1/2 (16·5).</p>
<p>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1882.</p>
<p><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1882 (1665); Venice Biennale, 1905 (sala XII, 47); <i>Works by the late Sir Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., and F. Derwent Wood</i>, <i>R.A.</i>, R.A., winter 1927 (128).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Edmund Gosse, ‘The New Sculpture II’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1894, p.201, repr. p.199.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Eric G. Underwood, <i>A Short History of English Sculpture</i>, 1933, pl.31.</p>
<p>The clay model for this work was begun early in November 1880 and the full-size <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> was exhibited at the R.A. in 1881 (1495); this is said to have been destroyed when the artist's studio in Melbury Road was vacated at his death. Other <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> casts are at Copenhagen and Chicago. The model was Orazio Cervi (the artist's diary, in the possession of his widow); a small head of Cervi, 13 in. high, belongs to his widow. A large bronze head for the statue (14 in. high) was lent by Lady Thornycroft to the R.A. memorial exhibition in 1927 (100) and was presented by her to the Athenaeum 1939. The memorial exhibition also included a ‘First Sketch for “Teucer”, statuette, bronze’ (98); this was presented by Lady Thornycroft to Sir Walter Lamb in 1926 (8 1/2×6 1/4×2 1/2 in.; inscribed ‘H.T. July 188[0 or 1 - the last figure illegible]’). It was probably modelled from life and shows almost the same pose as the finished work, though the actual bow is not shown. A larger statuette of the whole figure (14 3/4×10 1/2×5 1/2 in.; inscr. ‘Hamo Thornycroft 1881’ on the base) belongs to Lady Thornycroft. It is similar to the first sketch except that Teucer holds a bow. As with ‘Artemis’ and ‘The Mower’ there are many bronze statuettes after the original, usually 14 or 22 in. high, which were sent to provincial exhibitions.</p>
<p>The following quotation from Pope's translation of the <i>Iliad</i>, VIII, lines 359–64, appeared in the 1881 R.A. catalogue:</p>
<p>Since, rallying from our wall we forced the foe,
<br/>Still aimed at Hector have I bent my bow;
<br/>Eight forky arrows from this hand have fled,
<br/>And eight bold heroes by their points lie dead:
<br/>But sure some God denies me to destroy
<br/>This fury of the field, this dog of Troy.</p>
<p>Teucer, son of Telamon and Hesione and stepbrother of Ajax, was the best archer among the Greeks of Troy. He later founded Salamis in Cyprus.</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 adults archery arrow bow Cervi, Orazio classical myths: events, themes classical myths: gods and heroes individuals: male leisure and pastimes male man military named individuals nudes objects people portraits religion and belief soldier sport standing Teucer Trojan War weapons work and occupations