CIRCLE OF JOHN FLAXMAN (1755-1826), ENGLISH, LATE 18TH CENTURY

In the past, the present relief, probably formerly from a mantle-piece or tomb, has been compared to work which originated from the workshops of John Deare (1759-1789), the Italian trained, British, neo-classical sculptor. There are certainly similarities between the lot offered here and Deare's Marine Venus (1788) in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Fogelman, Fusco and Stock, loc. cit.). However, a close look at the works of John Flaxman (1775-1826) might suggest another likely possible origin. In the present lot, the artist is working on a similar intimate scale and with the equivalent delicacy that can be seen in a number of monuments and drawings by Flaxman. One need only look at his drawing depicting The Birth of Cacciaguida (Irwin, op. cit., p. 105, pl. 135) to see a similar composition and tender treatment of the recumbent woman. This can also be seen in his 1800 Monument to George Steevens, in St. Matthias, Poplar, (Bindman, loc. cit.) and his 1812 Monument to Sarah Udny (ibid., p. 153, pl. 209) in Chichester cathedral, where the pensive figure, recumbent against the edge of the scene, is set within a frame that leaves large areas of background undecorated. Indeed, this is a stylistic trait that recurs often within Flaxman's oeuvre. It has no defined purpose, but one can assume that it was intended to make the scene, altogether, less complicated, thus helping the onlooker to engage in a moment of peaceful reminiscence.

A further interesting idea on authorship could be Flaxman's collaborator, Thomas Banks. Housed in the Victoria and Albert museum, London, is a relief by Banks depicting Thetis and her nymphs rising from the sea to console Achilles for the loss of Patroclus (1777-8), which exhibits a similar sense of composition with the figures following the line of the edge of the relief and in displaying a similar treatment of the anatomy.