{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1755027"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1755027/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NP2471/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NP2471/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NP2471","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP2447","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP2446","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP2448","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP2449","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1755027/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1755027","accessionNumber":"A.6-2023","objectType":"Sculpture","titles":[{"title":"A Youth","type":"published title"}],"summaryDescription":"This work is a comparatively rare example of a full-figure wax portrait in Richard Cockle Lucas’ extensive oeuvre. The figure appears seated on a rustic outcrop and integral naturalistic base, wearing a short jacket and pantaloons. Staring coolly into the distance with one hand tucked into his front jacket pocket, the young man appears intellectual and confident: the epitome of a nineteenth-century gentleman. \n\nThe figure’s identity has been put forward as Charles Kinnaird Sheridan (1812-1847), a diplomat who died tragically young in Paris after contracting tuberculosis. There is a known signed portrait of Sheridan by Lucas (dated 1838) which bears an extremely close resemblance to the wax sculpture and may have served as a preliminary study. Records confirm that Lucas completed work for Sheridan’s brother (Brinsley Sheridan) at Frampton House in Dorset. He also made two wax medallion portraits of Sheridan’s sister, Caroline Elizabeth Norton, one of which is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection.\n\nRichard Cockle Lucas is primarily known as a sculptor in wax and ivory, but he also worked in glass, marble and bronze, in addition to being an architect, painter and photographer. Born at Harnham Mill, Salisbury, Lucas was first apprenticed at the age of thirteen to a cutlery workshop in Winchester in which he learned to carve knife handles. In 1828 he entered the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he studied under the renowned neoclassical sculptor Richard Westmacott and was awarded two silver medals (1828; 1829). \n\r\nHe exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1829 until 1859, specialising in classical subjects depicted across a range of media including busts, medallions and reliefs. Some of these works appeared again at the Great Exhibition of 1851. In 1845, he made two models of the Parthenon – in its original state and after the explosion of 1687 – which were both acquired by the British Museum. Lucas recorded his views on art in published works such as Remarks on the Parthenon (1845) and Essay on Art (1870). He also compiled a comprehensive album containing 654 drawings, etchings and prints relating to his work, which he titled ‘My Monument’ (1870-1878). \n\r\nLucas is best known for his small-scale works, including wax sculptures and ivory carvings. In 1865, Lucas arranged to give the South Kensington Museum a collection of 18 antique and neoclassical gems and 34 of his own small sculptures in wax, ivory and marble in exchange for receiving a Civil List Pension from Lord Palmerston (his longstanding friend and current Prime Minister). \n\r\nTwenty-five years after his death, Lucas’ legacy was entangled in a controversy concerning the coloured wax bust of Flora in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. The bust was acquired in 1909 by Wilhelm von Bode, who thought it to be an authentic work by Leonardo da Vinci, but this claim was publicly contested in the Burlington Magazine by Lucas’ son (Albert Durer Lucas), who claimed that the bust was modelled by his father. Chemical analysis and radiocarbon dating performed in 2021 have confirmed that the bust dates to the nineteenth century. \r\n","physicalDescription":"Wax statuette of a young man ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Richard Cockle Lucas","id":"A3517"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wax","id":"AAT14585"},{"text":"plaster","id":"AAT14922"}],"techniques":[{"text":"modelling","id":"AAT53130"},{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wax, modelled","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Waxes","id":"THES269037"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2023NP2471","2023NP2447","2023NP2446","2023NP2448","2023NP2449"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES395974"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":"x45409"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c. 1838","earliest":"1833-01-01","latest":"1842-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Gift, David Barclay","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"48.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Appeared in Bonhams sale in February 2023, alongside a second wax figure bearing Lucas' signature along the base (Lot 304, The Connoisseur's Library Sale, 7 February 2023). ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"A wax statuette of a young man in nineteenth-century dress shown resting against a tree stump, with his right hand tucked into his jacket pocket. ","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"","id":""}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.6-2023"],"accessionNumberNum":"6","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":2023,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2023-05-18","availableToBook":false}}