Bronze
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-havard-thomas-546" aria-label="More by James Havard Thomas" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Havard Thomas</a>
Lycidas
Presented by Sir Michael and Lady Sadler through the Art Fund 1911
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
arm / arms raised
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
looking / watching
male
man
Milton, John, ‘Lycidas’, 1637
nudes
people
standing
<p>Havard Thomas spent most of his career in Italy, researching the techniques of ancient Greek sculpture. His unconventional approach and methods placed him outside the Victorian art world. In 1905, he caused a scandal when his model for <span>Lycidas</span> was rejected from the annual Royal Academy exhibition. Its realistic character shocked viewers who were accustomed to idealised figures and heroic poses. <span>Lycidas</span> has been connected to John Milton’s poem. The title, however, was chosen by a friend of the artist, as ‘something vague and yet distinguished’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2020</em></p>
sculpture bronze
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
25 January 2012 – 24 July 2012
2012-07-24
25 January 2012 – 24 July 2012
2012-07-24
2012-01-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-01-25
Rotunda
Collection based display
14 December 2012 – 26 September 2022
2022-09-26
10 December 2012 – 25 September 2022
2022-09-25
2012-12-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-12-14
Gallery 4
Collection based display
Lycidas
object: 1613 × 832 × 521 mm
Presented by Sir Michael and Lady Sadler through the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1911
<div class="text">
<p>Havard Thomas spent most of his career in Italy, researching the techniques of ancient Greek sculpture. His unconventional approach and methods placed him outside the Victorian art world. In 1905, he caused a scandal when his model for <i>Lycidas</i> was rejected from the annual Royal Academy exhibition. Its realistic character shocked viewers who were accustomed to idealised figures and heroic poses. <i>Lycidas</i> has been connected to John Milton’s poem. The title, however, was chosen by a friend of the artist, as ‘something vague and yet distinguished’.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2020-10-13T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N02763</b> LYCIDAS 1902–8
<br/>
<br/>Inscr. ‘I. Havard Thomas. Sc. MCMII-VIII’ on front of base.
<br/>Bronze, 63 1/2×32 3/4×20 1/2 (161×83×52), including base, 2 3/4×20 1/4×16 1/4 (7×51·5×41·5).
<br/>Presented by Sir Michael and Lady Sadler through the National Art-Collections Fund 1911.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by Sir Michael Sadler from the artist 1910.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> <i>Franco-British Exhibition</i>, 1908 (1272, repr. facing p.248); Carfax &amp; Co., November 1909 (18).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> A. S. Hartrick, <i>A Painter's Pilgrimage through Fifty Years</i>, Cambridge, 1939, pp.136–9; Norman Douglas, <i>Late Harvest</i>, 1946, p.59; Michael Sadleir, <i>Michael Ernest Sadler</i>, 1949, pp.224–5.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>N.A.C.F. Report 1910</i>, 1911, facing p.33 (detail); exh. cat., <i>Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture</i>, Battersea Park, May–September 1948, p.28.</p>
<p>According to the inscription the work was in progress for over six years, 1902–8. The wax model was first exhibited at the New Gallery, summer 1905 (533), after having been rejected by the R.A.; it was presented by Sir Michael and Lady Sadler to the City Art Gallery, Manchester, in 1910 (repr. <i>N.A.C.F. Report 1910</i>, facing p.30). The Leicester Galleries have a note, made in 1922, that there were three casts, one of which had already been sold; this was presumably <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/thomas-lycidas-n02763" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02763</span></a>. Another <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>, dated 1905, was exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, 1922 (57), and the Beaux Arts Gallery, 1936 (3, repr. on cover), and is now in the Aberdeen Art Gallery.</p>
<p>The bronze was finished in the ancient Greek manner, i.e. by working on the surface with files, and also by inlaying where there were imperfections. The result is a close, polished texture which took three months to achieve.</p>
<p>The subject is conceived as that of a young shepherd who catches sight of nymphs in the stream below, and stands tense and eager on its brink. According to Norman Douglas (<i>loc. cit.</i>): ‘It was I who chose the name of the statue, Thomas having asked me to root out a well-sounding and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/classicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Classicism'"><span>classical</span></a> one which, however, was to convey no definite suggestion; he wanted something vague and yet distinguished. I hit upon Lycidas because it belonged to three or four persons in antiquity, none of any great importance.’ Douglas also notes that the model for the statue was Havard Thomas's servant Antonio.</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 arm / arms raised literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) looking / watching male man Milton, John, ‘Lycidas’, 1637 nudes people standing