Here I Am (Mackennal)

Last updated

Here I Am, sometimes known as the Eton Boy, is a 1923 life size bronze statue by Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal. It was commissioned to form part of the First World War memorial at Eton College, and erected in a colonnade on the playing fields at the instigation of the Earl of Cavan. The statue was later moved to School Hall, and sold by Eton College in the 1960s. It is now held by the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

By the 1920s, Mackennal was a leading sculptor, with many public and royal commissions, including an equestrian statue of Edward VII at Waterloo Place in London, and the Edward VII Memorial at St George's Chapel, Windsor.

This work depicts a naked youth, standing with right foot advanced as though walking forward, with both arms stretched out in front, as if figuratively answering his nation's call to arms. It stands about 189 cm (74 in) high and is signed "B.Mackennal". The statue was exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1923.

The title is taken from the First Book of Samuel, chapter three, verses 4-10, in which Samuel's response to the voice of God in the Temple was "Here I am. Take me."

The work derives from Mackennal's bronze statue of Circe made in 1892, who is depicted as a nude with both arms stretched out. Mackennal included similar figures with outstretched arms in his statues of Apollo Driving the Horses of the Sun for Australia House, and the Canadian Red Cross war memorial at Cliveden. The pose may ultimately derive from classical statutes, perhaps the ancient Berlin Adorant .

The statue was sold at Sotheby's in 1984 for £51,700, and sold again at Christie's in 1993 for £34,500, and acquired by an Australian art dealer. It was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 2006.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamo Thornycroft</span> 19th-/20th-century English sculptor

Sir William Hamo Thornycroft was an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster. He was a keen student of classical sculpture and was one of the youngest artists to be elected to the Royal Academy, in 1882, the same year the bronze cast of Teucer was purchased for the British nation under the auspices of the Chantrey Bequest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Joseph Byrnes</span> Australian politician

Thomas Joseph Byrnes was Premier of Queensland from April 1898 until his death in September of the same year, having previously served in several ministerial positions in his parliamentary career. He was the first Roman Catholic Premier of Queensland and the first to die in office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Victoria Gardens</span>

The Queen Victoria Gardens are Melbourne's memorial to Queen Victoria. Located on 4.8 hectares opposite the Victorian Arts Centre and National Gallery of Victoria, bounded by St Kilda Road, Alexandra Avenue and Linlithgow Avenue.

Events from the year 1923 in art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Frampton</span> British sculptor (1860-1928)

Sir George James Frampton, was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combining different materials such as marble and bronze in a single piece. While his later works were more traditional in style, Frampton had a prolific career in which he created many notable public monuments, including several statues of Queen Victoria and later, after World War I, a number of war memorials. These included the Edith Cavell Memorial in London, which, along with the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens are possibly Frampton's best known works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bertram Mackennal</span> Australian sculptor and medallist

Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal, usually known as Bertram Mackennal, was an Australian sculptor and medallist, most famous for designing the coinage and stamps bearing the likeness of George V. He signed his work "BM".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Raphael Montford</span>

Paul Raphael Montford was an English-born sculptor, also active in Australia; winner of the gold medal of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1934.

<i>King Edward VII Memorial</i> Public sculpture by Albert Toft

The King Edward VII Memorial is a sculpture in memory of King Edward VII, relocated from Highgate Park to Centenary Square, Birmingham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Cenotaph</span> War memorial in Martin Place, Sydney

The Sydney Cenotaph is a heritage-listed monument located in Martin Place, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Bertram Mackennal and built from 1927 to 1929 by Dorman Long & Co. It is also known as Martin Place Memorial and The Cenotaph. It is one of the oldest World War I monuments in central Sydney. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 11 November 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Edward VII</span>

King Edward VII of the United Kingdom has been depicted a number of times in different media and popular culture.

Edward Alfred Briscoe Drury was a British architectural sculptor and artist active in the New Sculpture movement. During a long career Drury created a great number of decorative figures such as busts and statuettes plus larger monuments, war memorials, statues of royalty and architectural pieces. During the opening years of the 20th-century he was among the foremost architectural sculptors active in Britain and in that period created the series of works in central London for which he is perhaps now best known. These include the figures on the Old War Office building in Whitehall, elements of the facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum and four of the colossal statues on Vauxhall Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jubilee 150 Walkway</span> Memorial plaques in Adelaide, South Australia

The Jubilee 150 Walkway, also variously known as the Jubilee 150 Commemorative Walk, the Jubilee 150 Walk, Jubilee 150 Plaques, the Jubilee Walk, or simply J150, is a series of (initially) 150 bronze plaques set into the pavement of North Terrace, Adelaide from King William Street to Pulteney Street. It was officially opened on 21 December 1986. It was commissioned as part of the celebrations commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the British Province of South Australia on 28 December 1836.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorials to William Shakespeare</span>

William Shakespeare has been commemorated in a number of different statues and memorials around the world, notably his funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon ; a statue in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London, designed by William Kent and executed by Peter Scheemakers (1740); and a statue in New York's Central Park by John Quincy Adams Ward (1872).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Memorial, Kolkata</span> Memorial-museum in Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The Victoria Memorial is a large marble building on the Maidan in Central Kolkata, having its entrance on the Queen's Way. It was built between 1906 and 1921 by the British government. It is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria, Empress of India from 1876 to 1901. It is the largest monument to a monarch anywhere in the world, it stands in 64 acres of gardens and is now a museum under the control of the Ministry of Culture. Possessing prominent features of the British architecture of the colonial era, it has evolved into one of the most popular places in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machine Gun Corps Memorial</span> Memorial in Hyde Park Corner, London, England

The Machine Gun Corps Memorial, also known as The Boy David, is a memorial to the casualties of the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War. It is located on the north side of the traffic island at Hyde Park Corner in London, near the Wellington Arch, an Equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, the Royal Artillery Memorial, the New Zealand War Memorial, and the Australian War Memorial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Leslie Bowles</span>

William Leslie Bowles was an Australian sculptor and medallist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parliamentary War Memorial</span> Stone sculpture in Westminster Hall, London, England

The Parliamentary War Memorial, also known as the Recording Angel Memorial, is a stone sculpture in Westminster Hall, unveiled in 1922, which commemorates the members of both Houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom who died in the First World War. It names 22 members of the House of Commons, 20 members of the House of Lords, and 9 senior members of staff, together with another 94 sons of members and officers of the House of Commons, who lost their lives in the war. Above the memorial is a large stained glass window which commemorates members and staff of both Houses who died in the Second World War.

John Neville Manners played cricket for Eton College in Fowler's match in 1910, and died in the early weeks of the First World War on the retreat from Mons. Poem LIV of The Muse in Arms by William Grenfell is addressed to him and entitled "To John".

<i>The Offerings of Peace</i> and <i>The Offerings of War</i>

The Offerings of Peace and The Offerings of War are a pair of bronze allegorical equestrian statues by Gilbert Bayes commissioned for the entrance of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. They have been on permanent display since their installation in 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thames Ditton Foundry</span>

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.

References