A VICTORIAN MARBLE FIGURE OF ARISTIDES

William Theed, the Younger (d.1891) was born in Staffordshire, the son of Wedgwood designer William Theed, the Elder (d.1817). He attended the Royal Academy schools and also worked for five years in the studio of Edward Hodges Baily. In 1826 Theed went to Rome and studied under Thorwaldsen, Gibson and Wyatt and no doubt visited the Museo Borbonico, now the Museo Nazionale, in Naples where the antique marble original of Aristides is preserved. Having been found at Herculaneum in 1779, the Aristides was admired during the late 18th century, but most praised in the first half of the 19th century. That Canova was reported to have admired it more and more every time he beheld it, certainly helped its fame (F. Haskell and N. Perry, ibid, p. 153). Executed in Rome, this copy of Aristides can be distinguished from the several busts Theed is recorded to have sent home for exhibition at the Royal Academy. Relatively early in he oeuvre, Theed captures all the gravitas of the Athenian statesman, well preparing him for the portrait commissions of Victorian luminaries, similarly depicted in fashionable classical garb, he was to receive. A commission from Prince Albert for statues for Osborne House rejuvenated his career and Theed returned from Rome in 1848 to establish a highly successful professional practice. Remaining a favourite sculptor of Prince Albert, it was appropriate that Theed's crowning achievement should be the group of Africa for the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park.