Physical Energy (sculpture)
Physical Energy is a bronze equestrian statue by the English artist George Frederic Watts. Watts was principally a painter, but also worked on sculptures from the 1870s. Physical Energy was first cast in 1902, two years before his death, and was intended to be Watts's memorial to "unknown worth". Watts said it was a symbol of "that restless physical impulse to seek the still unachieved in the domain of material things". The original plaster maquette is at the Watts Gallery, and there are four full-size bronze casts: one in London, one in Cape Town, one in Harare and one soon to be sited at Watts Gallery - Artists' Village in Compton, Surrey. Other smaller bronze casts were also made after Watts's death.
Background
The sculpture is based on Watts's earlier colossal bronze equestrian statue of
Watts started work on Physical Energy in the early 1880s. The original 3.5 ton gesso grosso model (made of plaster mixed with glue size and hemp or tow) is at the Watts Gallery at Compton near Guildford. He was assisted by George Thompson and Louis Deuchars. The sculpture depicts a nude male figure on a rearing horse, set on a rectangular wedge-shaped base; the man's left hand holds the reins, while he shades his eyes from the sun with the right as he looks to the left. In the artist's own words, it is "a symbol of that restless physical impulse to seek the still unachieved in the domain of material things".
Physical Energy was the culmination of Watts's ambition in the field of public sculpture, embodying the artist's belief that access to great art would bring immense benefits to the country at large, Watts conceived Physical Energy as an allegory of human vitality and humanity’s ceaseless struggle for betterment.
Watts was reluctant to finalise and cast the work, despite encouragement from Millais to have it cast as early as 1886. Watts continued to modify the gesso model. It wasn’t until 1902 that the model was first cast in bronze.
Casts
The first full-size bronze cast of the sculpture was made at the
A second large cast was made in 1905, designed as a gift to the nation. It was cast at
A third full-size version of Physical Energy was cast in bronze in 1959, from the gesso model used for second cast. It differs slightly: for example, the rein appears on the right, like the first cast, rather than on the left, like the second cast. The British South Africa Company arranged for the statue to be cast at Leonard Grist's Corinthian Bronze Company foundry in London. It was originally located in front of the High Court building in Lusaka in Zambia. It was moved to a racecourse on the outskirts of Salisbury, in Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, in Zimbabwe). Since 1981, it has stood in the grounds of the National Archives in Harare.
A fourth full-size bronze was commissioned by the Watts Gallery for the 200th anniversary of Watts's birth, and cast by
Several smaller bronze versions were cast posthumously and sold commercially. One was exhibited at the
In 1960, at the unveiling of the Lusaka statue,
Other uses
The model of the statue is used as the logo for Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village. It also features as part of Rhodes University's logo, and the sculpture appears as a crest on its arms. An image of Physical Energy was used by the Labour Publishing Company Ltd in the 1920s. An image of the sculpture was also used as a trade mark for products such as Energen Rolls in the 1930s.
The sculpture was one of the inspirations for Charles Villiers Stanford's Sixth Symphony, composed in memory of Watts.
References
- Physical Energy, Kensington Gardens, London, Watts Gallery
- The Sculpture Collection, Watts Gallery
- Physical Energy Statue, Kensington Gardens, The Royal Parks
- Physical Energy by George Frederic Watts, Victorianweb
- Gigantic plaster horse returns to restored Watts Gallery, The Guardian, 21 November 2010
- Physical Energy by George Frederick Watts, Visit Harlow
- A bronze equestrian reduction of Physical Energy dated 1914, Bonhams, 4 June 2014
- Object in Focus: G.F. Watts, Physical Energy gesso grosso model, Watts Gallery
- Physical Energy at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy of Arts
- Physical Energy, Royal Academy of Arts
