English Antique Marble Bust “Lady Layard” by John Warrington Wood ca. 1870
Located in Shippensburg, PA
JOHN WARRINGTON WOOD
British, 1839-1886
Bust of a Woman, almost certainly depicting Lady Layard (1870)
Carrara marble signed to the reverse "WARRINGTON WOOD SCULPT ROMA 1870"
Item # 405UGP17Q
A very finely carved marble bust that almost certainly depicts Lady Layard (British, 1843-1912) at 27 years of age. While the bust is not titled, John Warrington Wood had a relationship with the family, first sculpting Lady Mary Enid Evelyn Layard's husband and cousin Henry Austin Layard the year before in London in 1869. Wood exhibited that bust at the Royal Academy in 1870 and the same year Lady Layard would have sat down with him in Rome for the completion of this bust. Interestingly, Henry Layard decided he did not like the bust that was completed of him and eventually re-commissioned Wood to complete the bust again 12 years later in 1881, that example held in the permanent collection of The National Gallery in London. The same year, John Warrington Wood executed a second bust of Lady Layard that is held in the permanent collection of the British Museum of Art (acc. no. OA.10557). It is interesting to view the painting completed by Vicente Palmaroli y González...
Category
19th Century Italian Neoclassical Antique Carrara Marble Decorative Objects