Sir William Reid Dick (1879-1961)

An influential figural and portrait sculptor, Sir William Reid Dick served as a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, a trustee of the Tate Gallery, and held the position of the King's sculptor, and subsequently the Queen's. Commissions executed by Reid Dick are now held in such prestigious collections as the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Collection, and the Tate.
The present sculpture is the original plaster model of a commission for Vigo House, Regent Street. Described by the artist C.R.W. Nevinson as 'the only building in Regent-street worth a second glance', Vigo House was built by the Scottish architect John Burnet for the clothing company R. W. Forsyth (see 'Goddess of Trousers', Eastern Morning News, 6 October 1925). The symbolic figure of a wool-spinner was thus an apt choice and served as the building's crowning emblematic figure. The final sculpture, with minor alterations to the distaff and hair from the present plaster, was completed in 1925 and remains extant, the peaceful figure still perched presiding over Vigo House today. The following year a bronze reduction of the model was cast and exhibited at the Royal Academy.