Leighton Athlete Wrestling with a Python 01 Tate Britain

''An Athlete Wrestling with a Python'' was the first of three bronze sculptures produced by the British artist

Frederic Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...

. Completed in 1877, the sculpture was a departure for Leighton, and heralded the advent of a new movement,

New Sculpture New Sculpture was a movement in late 19th-century British sculpture with an emphasis on naturalistic poses and spiritual subjects. The movement was characterised by the production of free-standing statues and statuettes of 'ideal' figures from po ...

, taking realistic approach to classical models. It has been described as a "sculptural masterpiece" and as "possibly Leighton's greatest contribution to British art". Despite its indebtedness to the Classical tradition, it can be understood as one of the first stirrings of modern sculpture in Britain as well as in Europe. The Athlete was arguably the most influential piece of English sculpture of the 19th century. The sculpture was exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...

in 1877 under the title ''An Athlete Wrestling with a Python'' but it is sometimes also known as ''An Athlete Strangling a Python'' or ''An Athlete Struggling with a Python''. The original full-size bronze was acquired for the nation using funds from the

Chantrey Bequest Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable ...

, and is displayed at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in E ...

in London.

Description

The sculpture depicts a dramatic scene of life and death, with a classically proportioned male nude wrestling with a large snake. Leighton conceived the composition while working on sculptural

modello A modello (plural modelli), from Italian, is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron. The term gained currency in art circl ...

s for the figures in his 1873-76 processional painting of the '' Daphnephoria''. It may have been inspired by the story of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

slaying the Python of

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracl ...

. There are obvious parallels with the classical sculpture of ''

Laocoön and His Sons The statue of ''Laocoön and His Sons'', also called the Laocoön Group ( it, Gruppo del Laocoonte), has been one of the most famous ancient sculptures ever since it was excavated in Rome in 1506 and placed on public display in the Vatican Museums ...

'', and the work also owes a debt to works of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was in ...

. The male, a muscular athlete crowned with a wreath, is standing with his legs apart, holding the python's head away with his right hand, while grasping its body with his left hand behind his back. The python has thrown two coils around the athlete's left thigh and its body curves around the athlete's back, but its mouth gapes wide in the throes of death as it is being throttled. The work depicts the musculature of the figures and the scales of the serpent realistically, with contrasting textures. The work was designed in a spiral, so it must be viewed in the round from a variety of angles. The exaggerated spiral composition confounds any singular view of the statue, and its form exceeds that of its predecessors' use of the figura serpentinata. With it, Leighton developed the Athlete as a statement about the properties of sculpture as distinct from those of painting, and the composition encourages a temporal and circumambulatory experience of the work as a means of highlighting sculpture's physicality and three-dimensionality. The model for the athlete was an Italian professional, Angelo Colorossi (father of the

Angelo Colarossi Angelo Colarossi (1875–1949) was a studio boy and assistant to the sculptor Alfred Gilbert. At the age of 15, he modelled for Gilbert's most famous statue ''Anteros'' (1891) on the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in Piccadilly Circus. He was lat ...

who was the model for

Alfred Gilbert Sir Alfred Gilbert (12 August 18544 November 1934) was an English sculptor. He was born in London and studied sculpture under Joseph Boehm, Matthew Noble, Édouard Lantéri and Pierre-Jules Cavelier. His first work of importance was ''The Ki ...

's 1891 sculpture of ''

Anteros In Greek mythology, Anteros (; Ancient Greek: Ἀντέρως ''Antérōs'') was the god of requited love (literally "love returned" or "counter-love") and also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of u ...

''). The work was originally modelled a small-scale clay figure, a plaster cast of which was later given to

George Frederic Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...

Jules Dalou Aimé-Jules Dalou (31 December 183815 April 1902) was a 19th-century French sculptor, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism. Early life Born in Paris to a working-class family of Huguenot background, he was raised ...

, a French sculptor who was in exile in London after the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

, encouraged Leighton to scale it up and to have it cast as a life-size bronze. Leighton was assisted by

Thomas Brock Sir Thomas Brock (1 March 184722 August 1922) was an English sculptor and medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His mo ...

, and comparisons can be made to Brock's 1869 work of '' Hercules Strangling Antaeus'', and a similar sculpture of 1814 by

François Joseph Bosio Baron François Joseph Bosio (19 March 1768 – 29 July 1845) was a Monegasque sculptor who achieved distinction in the first quarter of the nineteenth century with his work for Napoleon and for the restored French monarchy. Biography Born in ...

, ''Hercule combattant Achéloüs métamorphosé en serpent'' (not cast in bronze until 1824; in the Louvre). There is a similar wrestling figure in Leighton's painting of ''Hercules wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis'' (at the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School la ...

in Hartford, Connecticut). The work was scaled up and modelled in plaster at Brock's studio in

Boscobel Place Boscobel may refer to: Locations * Boscobel, Jamaica * Boscobel, Shropshire, England * Boscobel, Wisconsin, United States * Boscobel (town), Wisconsin, United States Other * Boscobel House, a former hunting lodge at Boscobel, Shropshire, associ ...

, Westminster, and then cast in bronze by

Cox & Son Cox may refer to: * Cox (surname), including people with the name Companies * Cox Enterprises, a media and communications company ** Cox Communications, cable provider ** Cox Media Group, a company that owns television and radio stations ** C ...

, whose foundry in

Thames Ditton Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cro ...

was later taken over by

A.B. Burton The Thames Ditton Foundry was a foundry in Thames Ditton, Surrey, which operated from 1874 to 1939 and which under various owners produced numerous major statues and monuments as one of the United Kingdom's leading firms of bronze founders.

. The original life-size bronze measures and weighs . It was the first full-size nude adult male sculpture with no fig leaf to conceal its genitals to be made in Britain in decades. It is also one of the first modern life-size statues in Europe to eschew a clearly identifiable mythological, religious or classical source. In this, it is comparable to the contemporary sculpture by Auguste Rodin,

The Age of Bronze ''The Age of Bronze'' (french: L'Âge d'airain) is a bronze statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). The figure is of a life-size nude male, 72 in. (182.9 cm) high. Rodin continued to produce casts of the statue for ...

(1876), and the slightly later 'Standing Man' (1884) by

Adolf von Hildebrand Adolf von Hildebrand (6 October 1847 – 18 January 1921) was a German sculptor. Life Hildebrand was born at Marburg, the son of Marburg economics professor Bruno Hildebrand. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, with Kaspar v ...

. Leighton's Athlete, along with these contemporary statues, pushed the Classical tradition to its limits and helped to open the discourse of modernity in sculpture in Europe. Image:1876 Frederic Leighton - Daphnephoria.jpg, Leighton, '' Daphnephoria'', 1876, Lady Lever Art Gallery File:Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis, by Frederic Lord Leighton, England, c. 1869-1871, oil on canvas - Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, CT - DSC05068.jpg, Leighton, ''Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis'', 1871, Wadsworth Atheneum File:0 Laocoon Group - Museo Pro Clementino (Vatican).jpg, ''

'', Vatican File:Hercule Bosio Louvre LL325-1.jpg,

Bosio Bosio is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Alessandria. Bosio borders the following municipalities: Campo Ligure, Campomoron ...

, ''Hercule combattant Achéloüs ... '', 1814, Louvre

Reception

Leighton had the work cast in bronze without a prior commission, a mark of his artistic confidence and his wealth. At the time, the purity of white marble was preferred for new imaginative works, but Leighton's work created renewed interest in the darker material. The sculpture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1877.

Joseph Edgar Boehm Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, (6 July 1834 – 12 December 1890) was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the " Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Pa ...

, Queen Victoria's Sculptor in Ordinary, wrote to Leighton in 1877 that it was "superb. I think it the best statue of modern days." The art critic

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...

saw it was "something wholly new, propounded by a painter to the professional sculptors and displaying a juster and livelier sense of what their art should be than they themselves had ever dreamed of". The Athenaeum praised the work, saying Leighton had "selected a subject full of passion, and dealt with it in correspondingly energetic manner, and in a style that suited the subject, adopting a vigorous, and, to some extent, massive style". It won the gold medal for sculpture at the

Exposition Universelle Exposition (also the French for exhibition) may refer to: *Universal exposition or World's Fair *Expository writing **Exposition (narrative) *Exposition (music) *Trade fair * ''Exposition'' (album), the debut album by the band Wax on Radio *Exposi ...

in Paris in 1878. It was purchased for £2,000 by the

on behalf of the British nation, making it the first sculpture acquired for the national art collection in that manner. It is still held by

. Leighton was elected the

President of the Royal Academy This is a list of the officers of the Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately ...

in 1878 and was knighted in the same year. He donated the original plaster model for the full-size sculpture to the Royal Academy in 1886, the year he was created a baronet. A plaster cast of the clay study, , is held by Tate Britain, made c.1877 and presented by

Alphonse Legros Alphonse Legros (8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a French, later British, painter, etcher, sculptor, and medallist. He moved to London in 1863 and later took British citizenship. He was important as a teacher in the British etching r ...

1897, and a further version in bronze is in the Ashmolean Museum, in Oxford. A marble replica was carved by Frederick Pomeroy for

Carl Jacobsen Carl Christian Hillman Jacobsen (2 March 1842 – 11 January 1914) was a Danish brewer, art collector and philanthropist. Though often preoccupied with his cultural interests, Jacobsen was a shrewd and visionary businessman and initiated the tr ...

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root ''glyphein'', to carve, and ''theke'', storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection ...

in Copenhagen. Leighton counselled against the reproduction, as the marble is less able to hold its own weight, but eventually acquiesced and adapted the composition, adding supports for the legs. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1891 before being transported to Denmark. The marble sculpture was de-accessioned by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in 1974. After passing through several private collections, it was sold at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, t ...

in 2003 for £446,650. In 2017, John Schaeffer donated the marble replica to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia.An athlete wrestling with a python
Art Gallery of New South Wales Smaller reproductions of the bronze were cast in two sizes by Ernest Brown and Phillips at the

Leicester Galleries Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leicester ...

between 1903 and 1910. A bronze was acquired by the

Leighton House Museum The Leighton House Museum is an art museum in the Holland Park area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. The building was the London home of painter Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (1830–1896), who comm ...

in 2005, part funded with a grant from the

Art Fund Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as ...

. The museum also has a plaster model of the python which Leighton presented to

around 1900. An example of the 52 cm bronze was sold at

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought tog ...

in 2017 for £106,250.

Later works

Leighton made only two other bronzes sculptures, both exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886. Brock assisted Leighton with a second full-size male nude sculpture, his '' The Sluggard'' (1885), sometimes titled ''An Athlete Awakening from Sleep''. The inspiration for the piece came from his life drawing of model

Giuseppe Valona Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it. The feminine form of the name is Gius ...

. The original bronze measures . It was donated to the nascent Tate Gallery by

Henry Tate Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet (11 March 18195 December 1899) was an English sugar merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Gallery in London. Life and career Born in White Coppice, a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, Tate wa ...

in 1894. Smaller casts are in several other museum collections. Leighton's third and last bronze sculpture was a much smaller statuette of a female nude, '' Needless Alarms'' (1886), depicting a girl frightened by a toad. It measures . A cast was acquired by

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...

, and another cast was presented to the Tate Gallery in 1940 by Lady Aberconway (the wife of

Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway Henry Duncan McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway, (16 April 1879 – 23 May 1953) was a British politician, horticulturalist and industrialist. He was the son of Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway and Laura Pochin. Education Born in Richmond ...

Notes

References

Frederic, Lord Leighton, ''An Athlete Wrestling with a Python'', 1877
Tate Gallery
Frederic, Lord Leighton, Sketch for ''An Athlete Wrestling with a Python'', c.1877
Tate Gallery
Frederic, Lord Leighton, ''The Sluggard'', 1885
Tate Gallery
Frederic, Lord Leighton, ''Needless Alarms'', 1886
Tate Gallery
''Athlete Strangling a Python'' by Lord Frederic Leighton
ArtFund, 2005
Frederic Lord Leighton, ''Athlete Struggling (Wrestling) with a Python'' (England, 1877)
Peter Nahum at Leicester Galleries
Collection overview, Leighton House Museum
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
''Athlete struggling with a Python'', plaster
Victoria and Albert Museum
Leighton, an ''Athlete Wrestling with a Python''
Khan Academy
Frederic Leighton, ''An Athlete Wrestling A Python''
Bonhams, 5 April 2017
Frederic Leighton: ''Death, Mortality, Resurrection''
KerenRosa Hammerschlag, p. 88-90
Frederic Leighton's Athlete Wrestling with a Python and the Theory of the Sculptural Encounter
chapter from ''Body Doubles: Sculpture in Britain, 1877-1905'', David J. Getsy, 2004
Frederic Lord Leighton, ''Athlete Struggling (Wrestling) with a Python''
OnlineGalleries
Frederic, Lord Leighton, ''An Athlete Wrestling With A Python''
Christie's, 19 February 2003
Frederic Leighton, Baron Leighton
National Portrait Gallery
François-Joseph Bosio, ''Hercule combattant Achéloüs métamorphosé en serpent'', 1824
Louvre {{Frederic Leighton 1877 sculptures Sculptures of the Tate galleries Nude sculptures in the United Kingdom Snakes in art