Lot 396
DAVID WATSON STEPHENSON, ARSA (SCOTTISH 1842-1904)
PAIR OF WHITE MARBLE FIGURES FROM SIR WALTER SCOTT'S 'THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH'
Auction: Day Two: 07 September 2023 | From 11:00
Description
in white marble, the first titled 'The Fair Maid of Perth', on a circular plinth base signed 'D.W.STEVENSON, ARSA, SC, EDN 1876'; the other figure titled 'The Glee Maiden', similarly signed and dated 1878, with a pair of metal mounted revolving ebonised pedestals
Dimensions
100cm high, 32cm diameter
Provenance
Provenance: The Ashley Hall Collection: By order of The Trustees of the J. Porter Trust & The Executors of the late Leonard Rawcliffe
Footnote
Note: David Watson Stevenson was a successful Scottish sculptor who studied in Rome and apprenticed under the sculptor William Brodie. He worked as an assistant to the eminent sculptor Sir John Steell, contributing figures to the Prince Albert monument in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, as well as numerous public and private commissions. He became a member of the Royal Scottish Academy and is best remembered for his most famous sculpture, the bronze figure of William Wallace on the National Wallace Monument, Stirling.
The Fair Maid of Perth was written by Sir Walter Scott in 1828 and is one of the Waverly novels. It was inspired by the strange but historically true tale of Battle of the North Inch set in Perth and other parts of Scotland around 1400. Stevenson has chosen to depict two of the youthful female characters: Catherine Glover, the ingenue and one of the central figures of the tale, and Louise, a young French minstrel.