Teucer,

1882

<p>Thornycroft admired the so-called Elgin or Parthenon marbles, which had arrived in Great Britain in 1806, and his early works were in a Greek style. With <em>Teucer</em>, he sought to emulate the grandeur of Frederic, Lord Leighton’s <em>Athlete</em>, also an attempt to depict a monumental ideal nude. Leighton, in turn, would respond to <em>Teucer</em> with the sculpture<em> The Sluggard</em>, also included in the Wilder collection. <em>Teucer</em> was ultimately cast in several sizes for both public and private settings—a practice common among sculptors of the time. When <em>Teucer</em> was first exhibited, the critic Edmund Gosse wrote that it had “something almost archaic about its serenity and rigidity . . . this is courageously realistic.” <br></p>