William Dyce aged Nineteen

Artist Lawrence Macdonald (Perthshire, Scotland, 1799 - 1878)

SitterSitter is William Dyce (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1806 - 1864)

Date1825

Mediumplaster cast

ClassificationsSculptures

DimensionsOverall: Height: 52 cm, Width: 26 cm, Depth: 26 cm
Weight: 10 KG

AcquisitionBequeathed in 1940 by Miss Ella C Dyce.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG004761

Keywords

Portrait

About MeScottish sculptor Lawrence MacDonald was one of the most popular portrait sculptors of the day and many of the wealthy, titled British travellers on the Grand Tour sat for him.

As one critic noted his studio in Rome contained:

The peerage done into marble, a plaster galaxy of rank and fashion, row after row in room after room of noble and illustrious persons appear…looking as classical as drapery and hair-dressing can make them.

Macdonald worked in the Neo classical style and most of his male sitters were depicted with the upper part of a Roman toga visible. Here the effect is even more severe, with the torso truncated and formed into a cube. The classical effect is further enhanced by Macdonald's use of the Roman alphabet and numerals for the inscription, which states Dyce's age.

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This bust of Aberdonian painter William Dyce is particularly strongly influcenced by Classical sculpture. It was made in Rome, where the two artists met while they were both on the Grand Tour.