{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O71900"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O71900/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM7307/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM7307/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM7307","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O71900/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O71900","accessionNumber":"114-1877","objectType":"Relief","titles":[{"title":"Hero signalling to Leander","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This plaster relief, made by Felix Martin Miller in 1873 is painted to imitate terracotta. At the time that the Museum acquired it, it was thought to date from 1873. It depicts the legend of Hero and Leander. Leander was a youth of Abydos, a town on the Asian shore of the Hellespont, and used to swim at night to the opposite side to meet his lover Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite. She would guide him with a lighted torch. One night Leander drowned. Hero in despair threw herself into the sea.\r\n\r\nIn <i>Sculptors of the Day</i>, published in 1880, Miller is recorded as being at the Art School of the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A): he was master in the modelling class from about 1860 to 1880. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1842 and 1880, and at the British Institution between 1847 and 1866. The obituary of the sculptor John Henry Foley (1818-1874) in the <i>Art Journal</i> of 1874, mentions Miller, describing him as 'one of the few sculptors whose genius is manifest and who has produced works, chiefly bas-reliefs, that are unsurpassed by any productions of their class in modern Art: Foley thought so well of Miller that he commissioned more than one of his works in marble: indeed, the great artist was the principal patron of his struggling brother-artist.'  The writer went on to describe Miller as 'an artist who in his special department is unsurpassed, but whose evil fortune it has been to obtain much praise with little recompense'.","physicalDescription":"Relief depicting the legend of Hero and Leander. Hero is standing and signalling with a cloth. Below on the panel the scene is shown where the dead body of the lover is at the shore, Hero leaning above him. Signed.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Miller, Felix Martin","id":"A6906"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"AAT25181"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"plaster","id":"AAT14922"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Plaster, painted and partly gilt","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AM7307"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"M","id":"THES397259"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Relief","id":"AAT53622"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1873","earliest":"1873-01-01","latest":"1873-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the artist","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"109","unit":"cm","qualifier":"excluding frame","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"51.1","unit":"","qualifier":"excluding frame","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'F.M. MILLER'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"in the centre at the bottom of the relief, beneath the shell detail"}],"objectHistory":"Given by the sculptor in 1877.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Relief, plaster, painted and partly gilt, 'Hero signalling to Leander', by Felix Martin Miller, England, 1873","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<font -u>List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington, Acquired During the Year 1877, Arranged According to the Dates of Acquisition.</font> London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., p. 8"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bilbey, Diane and Trusted Marjorie. <font -u>British Sculpture 1470 to 2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum</font>, London, 2002, p. 339, cat. no. 513"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Hero","id":"N346"},{"text":"Leander","id":"N347"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["114-1877"],"accessionNumberNum":"114","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1877,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-06","recordCreationDate":"2002-12-11","availableToBook":true}}