Lough specialised in works based on characters and themes in plays by William Shakespeare (1564-1616). A bronze depicting Duncan's horses devouring one another, from Macbeth, a marble figure of Titania from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a marble figure of Jaques from As You Like It are also in the Museum's collections. In early July 1847 Lough opened his studio to exhibit several of his Shakespearian sculptures. According to a report in the Literary Gazette of the exhibition, Puck 'is truly the merriest and most mischievous of sprites. His head is young in form, but old in frolic, and cunning, and archness. That fellow cannot move without a trick; and how he stands, the mushroom Colossus, not of Rhodes, but of a hundred ways to fun and knavery. He is the quintessence of shrewdness and selfish whimsicality. It is a happy performance, and the true representative of all we fancy in our fairy love.'
Physical description
Puck stands, draped in a cloth and holding a scroll. A dog-like animal lies between his feet. Signed.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
ca. 1847 - ca. 1860 (carved)
Artist/maker
Lough, John Graham, born 1798 - died 1876 (sculptor)
Marks and inscriptions
'J. C. LOUGH'
Dimensions
Height: 122 cm, Weight: 150 kg
Object history note
Bequeathed by William Minshull Bigg in 1867, together with V&A Mus. nos 324-1867 and 325-1867.
Descriptive line
Statue, marble, 'Puck' from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', by John Graham Lough, ca. 1847-1860, English
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Lough, J., Merson, E. John Graham Lough. Woodbridge, 1987, pp. 36-59, 84 fig. 17
Cf. Clay, A., et al. British Sculpture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside, Liverpool, 1999, p. 81.
Boase, T. S. R. John Graham Lough: a Transitional Sculptor. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute. 23, 1960, pp. 277-290
Cf. Official catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851
for an example of the model for this sculpture exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851
Cf. The Builder, November, 1851, p. 743
for an example of the model for this sculpture exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851
Bilbey, Diane, Trusted, Marjorie. British Sculpture, 1470 to 2000: a Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 2002, pp 324-5, cat. no. 492
Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 27
Gunnis, R., Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, (revised edition, first published London 1953), London, 1968, p. 244
Materials
Marble
Subjects depicted
Puck
Categories
Portraits; Sculpture
Collection code
SCP
