“The Skipping-Rop / Girl Skipping" by Mary Thornycroft

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The Skipping-Rope / Girl Skipping

Mary Thornycroft (1809-1895)

Exhibited 1856

Bronze

Source: The Art-Journal, April 1861, facing p. 125

See below for the accompanying commentary.

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The Skipping-Rope. From the Statue of Mrs Thornycroft (Art-Journal Commentary)

It seems only reasonable to presume that, in sculpture, it is far more difficult to represent a figure in action than in repose; movement brings every limb, more or less, into play, it develops the muscles, it varies the ordinary condition under which the human form is seen when at rest, and thus, while taxing the utmost skill of the sculptor, it at the same time offers greater scope for his — or her — genius, and a wider field for the exhibition of anatomical knowledge. Compare, for example, the group of the Laocoon, and the Venus des Medicis: the examination will at once show the extremes of action and repose, and the qualities of mind - necessary to produce each respective work — the one full of exquisite grace, loveliness, and delicate symmetrical proportion; the other, terrible in its agony, yet sublime in the grandeur with which the suffering is expressed. We are charmed by the beauty of the one, we are awe-struck by the intensity of pain manifested in the other. Whatever influence each may exercise over the mind, so as to render it subordinate, in our feelings, to the other, no argument is necessary to prove that the Laocoon is a work presenting greater difficulties surmounted than the Venus.

Mrs. Thornycroft, in the Skipping-Rope, has not hesitated to lay claim to the higher of the two artistic positions pointed out, and is entitled to have her work pronounced a success, so far that it realizes the idea intended to be conveyed. The attitude is graceful, the general expression buoyant and joyous, the limbs soft and round, yet firm and well-set: it is an excellent representation of a young girl full of life and energy, placed, by the healthy amusement she is occupied with, in a pose favourable to the development of a form of considerable natural elegance, and the display of lines which the sculptor has arranged most agreeably, and with a judicious balancing of the projecting leg and arm. [p.125]

Links to Related Material

Untitled (Children Skipping Rope), cast bronzed iron panel by Benjamin Creswick<>/a>

The Skipping Girl by Louis Frederick Roselieb [later Roslyn]

Bibliography

Art-Journal. Vol.7 (April 1861): 125. Internet Archive. Kahle/Austin Foundation. Web. 7 May 2023.

Created 7May 2023