‡Dame Elisabeth Frink CH

‡Dame Elisabeth Frink CH, DBE, RA (1930-1993)

Horse Maquette

Signed and numbered Frink 1/8 (to bronze base)

Bronze on a black marble base, 1980

32.2 x 33.7 x 9.8cm (excluding marble base)

Together with a photograph of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Richmond presenting the work to Lord McAlpine on the occasion of the opening of a new stand at Goodwood Racecourse (2)

Provenance:

Presented by HM Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of Goodwood Racecourse to Edwin McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of Moffat (1907-1990), July 1980;

And by descent

Literature:

Bryan. Robertson, Elisabeth Frink Sculpture: Catalogue Raisonné (Salisbury, 1984), p.193, no.255;

Annette Ratuszniak, Elisabeth Frink: Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93 (Farnham, 2013), p.146, no.FCR289 (illustrated)

Exhibited:

London, Waddington Galleries, Elisabeth Frink: Recent Sculpture, Works on Paper, June 1981 (another cast)

Horses are one of the defining subjects in the work of Elisabeth Frink. Throughout her career she 'was fascinated by how they moved and looked' and 'in the relationship between man and horse which has existed for millions of years'. In 1980 she was commissioned by the Earl of March to sculpt a life-sized horse in bronze for Goodwood Racecourse (FCR290). The sculpture offered here is a maquette for that commission, combining the primitive ruggedness that is so characteristic of Frink's work, with the elegance and poise that gives the Goodwood piece an almost unique place in her oeuvre. This bronze is notable for the way Frink has captured the strength and speed of the racehorse, which she has depicted in motion, giving it a wonderful sense of dynamism. The artist proudly recalled two construction workers who, upon entering Goodwood and seeing the full-sized version, remarked 'He's so alert, isn't he?'. When HM Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the Goodwood sculpture in July 1980, she presented this cast to Lord McAlpine, and it has passed by descent before being presented here for sale for the first time.