Thomas Brock
105.4 x 36 x 50 cm
Thomas Brock (1847-1922) was a sculptor and medalist, and the founder president of the Society of British Sculptors. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1883 and a Member in 1891. In that same year Brock's design of the profile of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) appeared on British coinage. Brock's work often centred on large public sculptures and monuments that continue to be on display in Britain and abroad, although he is perhaps best well known for being appointed to sculpt the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace after her death in 1901. Brock exhibited at the Royal Academy on numerous occasions, including a version of The "Titanic" Memorial, for Belfast Group in 1916 (ref no. 1781).
Snake Charmer is one of Brock's earliest ideal subject exhibits and to an extent reflects his conventional training under John Henry Foley (1818-1874), under whose tutelage he worked for at least eight years from 1866. The Snake Charmer was exhibited in 1876 at the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia by the foundry, Cox & Sons, as an example of fine work in bronze. This statuette differs from his earlier work in that it is not neo-classical in inspiration and is, instead, influenced by the French school of thought and by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's (1827-1875) The Neapolitan Fisherman - which is emphasised in how the subject wears Neapolitan shorts, and in its poise and delicacy to express character.
Brock's friendship with Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) resulted in his immersion in the world of New Sculpture - a late-nineteenth century movement which focussed on naturalistic poses, spiritual subjects, and the democratisation of sculpture. New Sculpture artists reinvigorated classicising British sculpture, borrowing heavily from Renaissance and Baroque trends. Brock's Snake Charmer has been considered to be an example of a first ideal bronze work of the New Sculpture movement in its statuette size and thus thought to predate the work of William Hamo Thornycroft (1850-1925), who was one of the leading exponents of the New Sculpture movement.
Provenance
Private collection, CanadaPrivate collection, UK
Exhibitions
Eighteenth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1879.A statuette of the Snake Charmer was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1877, ref. no. 1459.
Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia, by foundry Cox & Sons in 1876.
Literature
John Sankey (ed.), Thomas Brock: Forgotten Sculptor of the Victoria Memorial (publisher unidentified, 2012) - Memoir identified as written by Brock's son, Frederick, in 1920 and edited with extensive notes and a catalogue of Brock's works by Sankey.John Sankey, 'Thomas Brock and the Critics: An Examination of Brock's Place in the New Sculpture Movement', vol I. PhD Thesis, Leeds University, 2002, pp. 10, 79, 80 (shown in volume II, plate 114).
The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1861-1989. volume 1, A-D. A Dictionary of Exhibitors at the Annual Exhibitions of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1861-1989 (Glasgow: The Woodend Press, 1990).
Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts; a Complete Dictionary of Contributors and their Work from its Foundation in 1769 to 1904 (New York: B. Franklin, 1970), p.290. Reprint of the 1905-06 ed. Original 8 volumes republished in 4 volumes.