About this piece
back to topA pair of beautifully weathered composition stone statues of cherubs wearing military dress from Sir Roy Strong’s Laskett Garden, Herefordshire.
Though made in the early to mid 20th century, these composition stone cherubs take inspiration from earlier Georgian and Victorian styles. Each cherub has a slightly different stance – one with arm in the air, the other holding a shield – wearing matching feathered military helmets.
Weathering that can only be achieved by exposure to the elements over many years gives these statues an aged appearance and unique character. Both will look impressive upon columns or pedestals either side of an entranceway or stairwell as they were in the prestigious Laskett Garden.
Sir Roy Strong CH, FRSL, FSA (B. 23 August 1935)
Born in Middlesex, England in 1935, Art Historian Sir Roy Strong was able to attend grammar school which led to him earning a first class honours degree in history. This was followed by a PHD from the prestigious Warburg institute, before he became a research fellow at the London Institute of Historical Research.
Strong went on to become the director of the National Portrait Gallery at age 32 before becoming the youngest ever Director at the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum at age 38 in 1974. In 1973, Sir Roy Strong and his wife Julia Trevelyan Oman, Lady Strong CBE (11 July 1930 – 10 October 2003) exited London on the tail end of the cultural revolution of the sixties and eloped to a rural property in Much Birch, Herefordshire.
Over the next thirty years the couple built up the four-acre Laskett Garden, the largest created since the second world war. The garden became a tribute to their individual and joint achievements, with sections dedicated to Queen Elizabeth after Strong’s early interests in the portraiture of Queen Elizabeth I, Shakespeare after Roy was awarded the prestigious Shakespeare award, Covent Garden after Julia’s commissions and the Beaton Bridge after the publication of Cecil Beaton’s Royal Portraits by Roy Strong.
Additional Dimensions
Dimensions stated are for the tallest.
Bases: 27 x 26cm + 29 x 28cm
63kg each
