Portrait medal of Lady Bearsted
Artur Immanuel Loewental (1879-1964)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1936
Materials
Bronze and wood
Measurements
233 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446628.6
Summary
Bronze medallion by Artur Immanuel Loewental (1879-1964) of Dorothea Montefiore Micholls Samuel, Lady Bearsted (1882-1949), in profile facing left, her hair waved, wearing a large tear-drop earring. Inscription to right of head, 19 AL 36. Gently concave in form. Set upon a rectangular wooden board, with at back a hinged support. All but identical to 446628.1, but the medallion has a broader edge.
Full description
Artur Immanuel Loewental was a talented sculptor who specialised in the production of portrait medals of his contemporaries. Born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1879, he was already by 1898 recorded as producing medals and portrait plaques of prominent individuals in the Jewish community of Vienna. In 1900 he enrolled at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, where he completed his studies as a sculptor. Throughout the First World War and subsequently, Loewental lived in Berlin, but in 1934 he emigrated from Germany to Britain, where he remained until his death in 1964. He continued in Britain to sculpt numerous medals, as well as other sculptures. Lord Bearsted, who actively assisted Jewish people to emigrate from Germany, provided the newly arrived Loewental with a number of commissions in the 1930s. This medal is a variant of the first medal of Lady Bearsted made by Loewental in 1936, of which there are two other versions at Upton House (NT 446628.1 and 2). Jeremy Warren, 2018
Provenance
Commissioned by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, in 1936; given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882-1948), in 1948.
Credit line
National Trust Collections (Upton House, The Bearsted Collection)
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse, to right of portrait: 19 [A over L] 36 [artist's monogram and date]
Makers and roles
Artur Immanuel Loewental (1879-1964), sculptor
References
Turner 2014: John T. Turner, Artur Immanuel Loewental 1879-1964. A brief introduction to his life and work, together with a select list of his sculpted works, Lincoln 2014, p. 91, no. LOE196