Doe and Hope

Description

The life-size and wonderfully decorative and well cast (gypsum?) plaster replica of a male foot, possibly being an element from a sculpture featuring a gladiator in action, surviving from the first half of the twentieth century.

The condition of the foot is good with very minor chips and a healthy patination across the whole. The piece also has an integral hoop to the heal so that it can be wall mounted if so desired.

Visit Europe today and you are likely to come home with tasteless souvenirs whereas in the 18th century, the great age of the large and imposing country house, young men returned and transformed the decor and furnishings of their families’ country seats with their acquisitions with many became insatiable collectors.

Beautiful statues and architecture in Greece and Rome were destroyed during the 19th Century and parts of them were sold to wealthy travelers on the Grand Tour. This foot is a later reproduction having been inspired by examples of cult statues dating back to early Roman times. The original foot would have been part of a very large statue.

A tactile and handsome piece of grand tour inspired curiosity.