SIR WILLIAM REID DICK (1879-1961)

An early model by Reid Dick, the original bronze of The Catapult, or Slingboy, as it is also known, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1911 (no. 1920; now in Bradford City Art Gallery, Cartwright Hall). The work was subsequently cast by Giovanni Galizia for the Parlanti foundry in two sizes, the present half-size and a larger version. Recalling elements of Leighton's An Athlete wrestling with a Python (1874) and The Sluggard (1890), as well as Gilbert's Perseus Arming (1881-2), The Catapult was described by Granville Fell as a 'well-balanced, tense figure, precise in modelling...' (Granville Fell, pl. 2).