SIR WILLIAM HAMO THORNYCROFT, R.A. (1850-1925)

Modelled for Orazio Cervi a year earlier, Hamo Thornycroft's Teucer was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in plaster in 1881. The following year, the monumental bronze version was shown and both it and the plaster were received with outstanding acclaim. Thornycroft had planned to model a series of athletes, primarily as studies of the nude. He had exhibited one such example, Putting the Stone, in 1880, and with Teucer was able to exploit a long-desired composition, that of the right angle. The subject matter is taken from the Iliad in which Teucer the archer missed hitting Hector eight times. As Thornycroft's biographer explained: 'The care and attention that he lavished on each individual casting of those works that were made available in limited editions, for example Teucer or the Mower, not only demonstrates his professional artistic commitment, making each one a unique work of art; but also testifies ... to a desire to bring art into the home' (Manning, loc. cit).