Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven, (1896-1966)
Stephen Leslie Rickard (Carshalton 1917-Newark-on-Trent 2014)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1952
Materials
Bronze on marble
Measurements
494 mm (Height)
Place of origin
Lode
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 515051
Summary
Bronze, Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966), by Stephen Leslie Rickard (1917-2014), cast and patination by John Galizia (c. 1896-1958), 1952. A bronze portrait head of Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven by Stephen Leslie Rickard, made in 1952. The head is signed and dated 'S Rickard 52' and is mounted on a rectangular black marble base.
Full description
Stephen Rickard was a sculptor, glass-engraver and, in his latter years, wood turner. He exhibited sculptures at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions periodically between 1940 and 1965, including a number of portraits. In 1948 he exhibited at the Summer Exhibition the bronze statue of Orpheus (NT 515119), which was bought by Lord Fairhaven. As Rickard was to explain, this purchase provided the introduction when, a few years later, Lord Fairhaven chose to have himself sculpted. The circumstances of the commission are preserved in a letter of 30 August 1992 from the sculptor, which provides interesting insight into on a professional sculptor’s working practice as well as fascinating vignettes of life at Anglesey: ‘My wife and I visited the Abbey recently for the first time since I spent a week-end there while modelling a portrait head of the late Lord Fairhaven. We noticed that the bronze, while being beautifully polished and kept, is entirely anonymous, so I thought you might be interested in a few details at first hand. I have taken them from my notes on the back of the photograph of that time, so they may be relied upon. Executed in April 1952. Time taken over the sittings (spread over 2 days) 8 ½ hours. Done in clay in the window of the library while he sat writing and reading at his desk, punctuated at times by a short stroll in the gardens. I brought my own wet clay, armature, modelling stand and dustsheet for the floor. I remember being met at Cambridge station by a chauffeur who took me straight up to Lord Fairhaven working in the library who set me to work at once – somewhat to my chagrin – without even offering me a cup of tea! We dressed for dinner (for which I had been forewarned by a mutual friend, Sir Arthur Bryant, the Historian), met in the library for a cocktail, dined alone in the vaulted dining room and had champagne to drink (he told me that he drank it with everything, hoped I didn’t mind). After the meal he took me on a conducted tour of the Abbey, telling me about almost every piece. I finished the head next day – he was so impressed by the likeness that he asked me to ring the bell for ‘my man Munday who knows me better than anyone – my batman you know’ for his opinion. Munday said ‘If I may say so m’lord, it’s a spittin’ likeness’ which pleased his Lordship no-end! As the clay now had to be cast in plaster, which I proposed to do myself to save costs, I was conveyed home all the way to Lewisham in S.E. London in the Ford V8 shooting brake, so that the portrait should come to no harm on the way. The plaster model was delivered to the firm of Galizia, Bronze Casters, in Fulham Rd. and was cast and coloured as you see it now in a dark green bronze for the sum of £28. The only thing I did not record, foolishly, was my fee, which I have quite forgotten, but I think it would have been in the region of £80.’ Jeremy Warren 2019
Provenance
Commissioned by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) in 1952 from Stephen Leslie Rickard (1917-2014); bequeathed to the National Trust by Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) in 1966 with the house and the rest of the contents.
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, The Fairhaven Collection (The National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Back of head, at neck: : S Rickard 52
Makers and roles
Stephen Leslie Rickard (Carshalton 1917-Newark-on-Trent 2014), sculptor John Galizia & Son Ltd, founder