Object Description
A white Parianware bust of the Duke of Wellington by E W Wyon, the Duke is shown in classical draperies looking slightly to the left, the reverse impressed ‘E.W. Wyon & F,. English, 1853.
It seems that it was produced in 1853 as a posthumous tribute and was designed to show him later in life.
Footnote: Edward William Wyon (1811 – 1885), studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1829, and became a celebrated sculptor, exhibiting at the Royal Academy regularly from 1831 to 1876. Among his commissions were works intended for reproduction by Wedgwood and numerous portrait busts. He executed reliefs for Drapers’ Hall, London (1866), and two caryatids for the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (1874). There are versions of this work in both marble and Parian ware (a technique perfected by Wedgwood which created a white ceramic body in exact imitation of Carrera marble, but at a fraction of the cost). The New York Public Library acquired a print of it which they date around 1843.