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The Sower: M.15-2015

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

The Sower

Maker(s)

Sculptor: Wells, Reginald Fairfax

Entities

Categories

Description

Bronze figure of a sower, left leg bent forwards, a bag over his shoulder, from which he is taking out seeds with his right hand.

Legal notes

Sir Ivor and Lady Batchelor Bequest through The Art Fund

Measurements and weight

Depth: 13.7 cm
Height: 29.9 cm
Width: 11 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (2015-04-27) by Batchelor, Ivor, Sir and Lady

Dating

19th Century-20th Century
Production date: circa AD 1906

Note

Reginald Fairfax Wells was a sculptor, studio potter, aircraft manufacturer and architect. Like the 19th-century painter, Jean-François Millet and sculptor Jules-Aimé Dalou, Wells was interested in depicting peasant workers in his sculpture. A magazine article in his life-time called him ‘the English Millet of Sculpture’. Wells became well-known for his small-scale bronzes, most of which were produced between 1900 and 1910. He cast his own bronzes, using the lost-wax casting method. From 1909 onwards, Wells began to focus more on studio pottery, having established the Coldrum Pottery in Wrotham, Kent in c. 1900. At the outset of World War I, Wells turned his efforts to designing and manufacturing aircraft. When this failed, he re-established his pottery business, the London Pottery Company, in Chelsea. In the census of 1911, Wells was recorded as ‘Sculptor, Bronze Founder, Art Pottery Manufacturer’ as well as a ‘Teacher of Bronze Foundry’.

School or Style

English

Project

  • Sculpture UK

Components of the work

Sculpture Depth 13.7 cm Height 29.8 cm Width 11 cm

Materials used in production

Bronze

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: R.F. Wells/No. 15.1
  • Type: Maker's mark

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.15-2015
Primary reference Number: 201850
Old object number: 21
Former loan number: AAL.249-2006
External ID: CAM_CCF_M_15_2015
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Thursday 18 June 2015 Updated: Thursday 12 November 2020 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "The Sower" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/201850 Accessed: 2024-12-23 13:45:35

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/201850 |title=The Sower |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 13:45:35|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-201850

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