Hands of Thomas Carlyle
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, RA (Vienna 1834 - London 1890)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1874
Materials
Plaster
Measurements
225 x 240 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Carlyle's House, London
NT 263813
Summary
Plaster cast of the hands of Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834 -1890). Plaster cast of the living hands of Carlyle taken by Boehm in 1874 while making the statue of Carlyle. Displayed in a deep wooden glazed frame with a handwritten provenance note inserted in the bottom left corner. A brass plaque beneath the hands reads: 'Cast of the Hands /of /Thomas Carlyle'.
Provenance
Cast taken by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890) in 1874. Bought by Algernon B. Mitford, Lord Redesdale (1837-1916) by whom given to Sir Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) on 23 July 1915. Given to Carlyle's House Memorial Trust by Lady Ellen Gosse (1850-1929) in 1928. The gift is recorded in the minutes of the Carlyle's House Memorial Trust Committee of Management meeting, 23 July 1928. Transferred to the National Trust in 1936.
Credit line
National Trust Collections (Carlyle's House, Chelsea)
Marks and inscriptions
Hand written card placed in the lower left corner of the frame: The Living Hands of T. Carlyle. These hands were cast by Boehm when he was making the statue of Carlyle now at Chelsea. They were bought from Boehm by Algernon B. Mitford (now Lord Redesdale), who was then secretary to H.M. Office of Works, as a souvenir of the placing of the statue, and given by Lord Rosedale to me. July 23 1915. Edmund Gosse Brass plaque beneath cast of hands: CAST OF THE HANDS/ OF / THOMAS CARLYLE.
Makers and roles
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, RA (Vienna 1834 - London 1890), sculptor