Images(7)

Teucer

Maker Sir William Hamo Thornycroft (British, 1850 - 1925)

Collections

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Date1881 \ 1904

Mediumbronze with dark brown patina

Dimensions29 1/4 x 19 x 4 in. (74.3 x 48.3 x 10.2 cm.)

DescriptionThis statuette depicts Teucer, one of the heroes of Homer's Iliad, who fought in the Trojan War.

SignedSigned and inscribed: Hamo Thornycroft 1881 / Hamo Thornycroft 1904, [numbered] 22

InscribedSigned and inscribed: Hamo Thornycroft 1881 / Hamo Thornycroft 1904, [numbered] 22

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Art Collectors' Council, the Adele S. Browning Memorial Art Fund, the Frances Crandall Dyke Bequest, and Hal and Maribeth Borthwick

Status

On view

Label TextTeucer is one of the founding icons of the New Sculpture movement in Britain, along with Alfred Gilbert's Perseus Arming (#2005.4), on display on the right. It shows Thornycroft's interest in developing a more naturalistic and expressive treatment of the human form. The subject comes from Homer's Iliad: Teucer was the archer who fired eight times at the Trojan warrior Hector. Thornycroft depicts him at the exact moment he has shot the last of his arrows. The figure stands caught between the tension of aiming and the relaxation of releasing the bowstring. The sculptor's attention to naturalistic details reveals itself particularly in the torso, where the skin tightens over each of the figure's ribs, and the wrist, which shows every straining tendon.

Object number2007.6