WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART Monday 19 October 2020

126 89 Rory Breslin (b.1963) THE SOMERSET MASK bronze on bronze base; (no. 1 from an edition of 5) signed and editioned at top 25 by 17 by 6in. (63.5 by 43.2 by 15.2cm) Dimensions of base: 4 by 11 by 11.5in. A very early example by the artist, made while he was living in London. The Somerset Mask is an interpretation of the River-God keystone on the South Wing of Somerset House on the Victoria Embankment. Vigorouslymodelled, the face reveals an nteresting fusion of baroque energy and classical control. Apples, berries, damsons and waterweed festoon the ribbed and fluted cornucopia on either side of an august yet slightly portentous visage Appropriately, the contents of the cornucopia, given its position, have an extra wear and fluidity that the weather and the rain have exerted on the sculpture over the centuries. This liquidity is further manifested in the beard, redolent of a flowing brook that ends in the aquatic whirls and eddies at the base of the mask. This depiction is of Achelous, which in Greek mythology was the god of all fresh water, is appositely placed as a counter-point to the depiction of the saline keystone of Ocean centred on the Northern facade of Somerset House. Defeated by Heracles as a suitor for Deianeira, Achelous, when he transformed himself into a bull, had one of his horns torn off which forced his surrender. Heracles gave it to the Naiads, who transformed it into the cornucopia. Breslin has drawn inspiration for his mask series from the built environment of cities. On visits as a child to his grandfather’s London studio, his youthful fascination with these enigmatic keystone heads en route made a lasting impression. Somerset House was designed by Sir William Chambers in 1776. The riverside wing was finished in 1786. At the time of construction, the Thames was not embanked and the river lapped the South Wing, where the great arch allowed boats and barges to pass under the river-god to landing places within the building. Originally carved by either Joseph Wilton or Agostino Carlini, founding members of the Royal Academy; according to Joseph Baretti in his Guide through the Royal Academy (1780), “the whole of the carvings in the various fronts of Somerset Place — excepting Bacon’s bronze figures —were carved from finished drawings made by [Giovanni Battista] Cipriani.” €4,000-€6,000 (£3,560-£5,330 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot89