Physical Energy
Watts, George Frederick
Download6A1-WGF-PE-A2_cp.jpg (832.5Kb)
Date
1870-1902Description
Overall view on stone plinth, on main axis of path, which leads to the Albert Memorial to the south; In the late 1860s Watts turned to sculpture. In 1870, a commission from Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster (later 1st Duke), for a depiction of his ancestor Hugh Lupus as an equestrian hunter (completed 1884; Eaton Hall, Cheshire) inspired the equally monumental Physical Energy (cast, London, Kensington Gardens), which Watts worked on until the end of his life. The exaggerated musculature and dynamic pose of both horse and naked rider express in symbolic terms the energy Watts saw as characteristic of his age. There is another cast of the work forming the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town, South Africa, and one in Harare, Zimbabwe. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/16/2012)
Type of Work
equestrian statueSubject
allegory, animal, human figure, horse and rider, horses, Nineteenth century, Symbolist
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only