8th Jul, 2025 10:00
Design
8
Harry Bates ARA (1850-1899)
a pair of bronze plaques, depicting springtime and harvest, signed 'HARRY BATES',
225 x 103cm high (2)
Provenance: Lyons Corner House, the Strand, London.
Harry Bates was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in 1850. From 1869, he was apprenticed to Farmer & Brindley, the firm of architectural and ornamental sculptors. From 1879, he attended Lambeth School of Art, where he was much influenced by the teaching of Jules Dalou, followed by study at the Royal Academy Schools from 1881.
In 1883, he was awarded a Gold Medal and travelling scholarship, which prompted a move to Paris, where he received lessons from Auguste Rodin. Bates was profoundly influenced by Rodin and his view of sculpture as a means of expressing pure energy.
Returning to London to set up his own studio in 1886, he became a prominent member of the New Sculpture movement, and was influenced by the works of the painters Edward Burne-Jones and G F Watts, and the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Bates exhibited 'The Story of Psycheas', consisting of three bronze reliefs, at the Royal Academy in 1887. The reliefs were very well received, with the critic for 'The Magazine of Art' noting: 'Among designs in low relief, Mr. Harry Bates is without competitor, for there is nothing that approaches within measurable distance the imagination and fine feeling for the antique that mark Mr. Bates three beautiful panels illustrating the story of Psyche'. Casts of the reliefs were available in at least two sizes and in different mediums, including plaster, marble, bronze, and silvered-bronze. Silvered-bronze versions of the reliefs are housed in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and large plaster versions of the triptych are in the collections of the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. In 1910, the 'Art Journal' featured a 'Panelled Room' which included a Liberty inglenook fireplace with Bates' panels above.
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Sold for £4,000
Condition Report
Structurally the plaques are sound. There is surface dirt and tarnishing throughout commensurate with age and use. Some paint marks to the surface. There are loses to the patina - particularly to the areas around the screw holes. Please see additional images.
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Auction: Design, 8th Jul, 2025
Viewing
Stansted Viewing | Auction
Viewing will be held at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE, as follows:
Friday 4 July, 10am - 4pm
Sunday 6 July, 10am - 1pm
Monday 7 July, 10am - 4pm
The auction will take place at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE.
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