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Sir Eric Maclagan

Portrait Head
ca. 1919 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This Head is a cast of a lead original (A.33:1-2005). It is thought to have been made at around the same time as the original in 1919. Ivan Meštrović was one of the leading Croatian artists of the twentieth century. The subject of the portrait, Sir Eric Maclagan, was Keeper of Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, rising to become Director in 1924. Meštrović had two long stays in England, and the portrait was probably made on his second visit in 1919 when he made a number of busts and figures of friends and celebrated contemporaries. Mestrovic and Maclagan had become close friends in 1915 when the latter organised an exhibition of Meštrović's sculpture at the Museum. The lead version of the Head was owned personally by Maclagan (until its gift to the Museum in 2005), and the plaster cast of it seems to have been made to be kept at the Museum.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSir Eric Maclagan (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Cast plaster with shellac of the lead original
Brief description
Head, dark varnished plaster, 'Sir Eric Maclagan', made by Ivan Meštrović, Great Britain, ca. 1919
Physical description
Head of a man, clean-shaven with side-parted hair and prominent front teeth. High collar at base and bow tie.
Dimensions
  • Height: 44cm
  • Depth: 26cm
  • Width: 18cm
Object history
This object is one of two identical plaster casts which were held in the Sculpture section for many years as unregistered objects. The present cast was formerly identified as Lost 218, and the 2nd as Lost 221. Lost 218 was formally accessioned on the occasion of the gift to the Museum of A.33:1-2005, the lead original by Meštrović of which both plasters are casts. Lost 221 was given to the donors of the lead Head as a memento of the original.
Subject depicted
Summary
This Head is a cast of a lead original (A.33:1-2005). It is thought to have been made at around the same time as the original in 1919. Ivan Meštrović was one of the leading Croatian artists of the twentieth century. The subject of the portrait, Sir Eric Maclagan, was Keeper of Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, rising to become Director in 1924. Meštrović had two long stays in England, and the portrait was probably made on his second visit in 1919 when he made a number of busts and figures of friends and celebrated contemporaries. Mestrovic and Maclagan had become close friends in 1915 when the latter organised an exhibition of Meštrović's sculpture at the Museum. The lead version of the Head was owned personally by Maclagan (until its gift to the Museum in 2005), and the plaster cast of it seems to have been made to be kept at the Museum.
Associated object
A.33:1-2005 (Original)
Bibliographic reference
Clegg, Elisabeth, 'Mestrovic, England and the Great War', in: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. CXLIV, No. 1197, Dec., p. 202, p. 740 ff.
Collection
Accession number
A.33:2-2005

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Record createdOctober 10, 2006
Record URL
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