{"id":13379,"date":"2022-11-08T12:33:53","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T11:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/?p=13379"},"modified":"2022-11-08T12:33:53","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T11:33:53","slug":"la-desconocida-escultura-de-un-irlandes-en-el-museo-del-prado-the-little-known-irish-sculpture-of-the-prado-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/la-desconocida-escultura-de-un-irlandes-en-el-museo-del-prado-the-little-known-irish-sculpture-of-the-prado-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"La desconocida escultura de un irland\u00e9s en el Museo del Prado | The little known Irish sculpture of the Prado Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Entre los impresionantes cuadros de grandes maestros como Vel\u00e1zquez, Goya y Caravaggio custodiados en el Museo del Prado, se halla una escultura del irland\u00e9s John Henry Foley (1818-1874) llamada \u2018Charles Benett Lawes como atleta victorioso en reposo\u2019. Esta escultura representa a Charles Benett Lawes, un arist\u00f3crata ingl\u00e9s que se form\u00f3 como escultor en Londres junto con Henry Foley a principios del siglo XIX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La doctora en Historia del Arte Leticia Azcue Brea, autora de la \u00fanica investigaci\u00f3n profunda sobre esta obra, comenta que esta escultura de Henry Foley ha permanecido desconocida durante m\u00e1s de cien a\u00f1os y que no existe referencia alguna a su autor en las publicaciones de los historiadores del arte de la \u00e9poca. Aunque es necesario ahondar en nuevos estudios, vale la pena explorar la relaci\u00f3n de la obra de Foley con los movimientos art\u00edsticos de la \u00e9poca en el \u00e1mbito de la escultura y llamar la atenci\u00f3n del p\u00fablico sobre la presencia de la obra de un artista irland\u00e9s dentro de una colecci\u00f3n de esculturas del Museo del Prado, instituci\u00f3n en la que se encuentran obras verdaderamente importantes de la escultura europea del siglo XIX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

La escultura de Foley destaca por su estatura y su estilo cl\u00e1sico. Seg\u00fan el art\u00edculo de Azcue Brea, la obra es de \u2018tama\u00f1o natural\u2019 y por eso logra centrar nuestra atenci\u00f3n sobre el propio f\u00edsico de Benett Lawes y sobre el alto nivel de atletismo y la capacidad de superar cualquier desaf\u00edo f\u00edsico que pueden alcanzar los seres humanos. Debido al uso de un estilo claramente cl\u00e1sico y renacentista, se podr\u00eda decir que Foley quer\u00eda retratar a Bennett Lawes como un ejemplo contempor\u00e1neo de masculinidad. De este modo, parece que Foley recurre al estilo cl\u00e1sico para establecer una comparaci\u00f3n directa entre Benett Lawes y los dioses del mundo antiguo y maravillarnos ante la condici\u00f3n f\u00edsica de este hombre como s\u00edmbolo de una condici\u00f3n atl\u00e9tica ideal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aunque nos queda mucho por descubrir en torno a esta escultura, sabemos que Foley era un artista muy conocido tanto en Irlanda como en Gran Breta\u00f1a durante la primera mitad del siglo XIX. Foley se mud\u00f3 a Inglaterra junto con otros artistas irlandeses tras la decisi\u00f3n de las autoridades brit\u00e1nicas de disolver el parlamento de Dubl\u00edn y gobernar tanto el Reino Unido como Irlanda desde Londres. Hoy en d\u00eda, sus esculturas todav\u00eda figuran entre las m\u00e1s famosas de Dubl\u00edn, destacando entre ellas la estatua de Daniel O\u2019Connell, el gran politico irland\u00e9s que luch\u00f3 por los derechos de la poblaci\u00f3n cat\u00f3lica y una mayor igualdad en cuanto al acceso a las oportunidades y la distribuci\u00f3n m\u00e1s justa de los recursos econ\u00f3micos entre los cat\u00f3licos y los protestantes. Gracias a su popularidad entre la clase alta brit\u00e1nica y a su capacidad de realizar esculturas a gran escala \u2014tales como la estatua commemorativa del Pr\u00edncipe Albert en Hyde Park\u2014 Foley aprovech\u00f3 la oportunidad de dejar su huella sobre el paisaje urbano de Dubl\u00edn mediante las esculturas de algunas de las figuras irlandesas m\u00e1s relevantes en el contexto de la lucha por una mayor cohesi\u00f3n social durante todo el siglo XIX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debido al deseo del gobierno, durante las primeras d\u00e9cadas tras la independencia (1922), de desvincular a Irlanda de su pasado como colonia brit\u00e1nica y a la desconfianza hacia los protestantes por su actitud m\u00e1s moderada en torno a las futuras relaciones entre Irlanda y el Reino Unido, el estado irland\u00e9s se neg\u00f3 a reconocer adecuadamente los logros de artistas como Foley y su aportaci\u00f3n al desarrollo de la propia memoria hist\u00f3rica de Irlanda a trav\u00e9s de su obra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El esfuerzo del Museo del Prado por difundir la obra de Foley, nos brinda la oportunidad de reivindicar el v\u00ednculo que el artista irland\u00e9s quer\u00eda forjar entre el pueblo de Irlanda y la historia del siglo XIX, as\u00ed como la importancia de recordar esta \u00e9poca sobre la que lamentablemente la mayor\u00eda de nosotros todav\u00eda sabe muy poco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliograf\u00eda:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azcue Brea, Leticia, “Una escultura de John Henry Foley en Espa\u00f1a: Charles Bennet Lawes como atleta victorioso en reposo”, Bolet\u00edn Museo del Prado n\u00ba 37, 2019-2021 pp.151-166.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texto de Philip McGuinness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amongst the many famous works of the great masters, such as Goya, Caravaggio or Vel\u00e1zquez that can be found in Madrid\u2019s Prado Museum, you may stumble upon a sculpture by the Irishman, John Henry Foley (1818-1874), called \u2018Charles Benett Lawes: A victorious athlete in repose\u2019. The sculpture depicts Charles Benett Lawes, an English aristocrat who trained as a sculptor with Foley in London at the beginning of the 19th<\/sup> century. The historians, Leticia Azcue Brea, who has carried out the only true deep research into the history of the sculpture, explains that this work was largely unknown for over one hundred years and that no reference appears to it in any of the publications of art historians during the period. Although new research is needed on the part of art historians on this work in the context of Foley oeuvre<\/em>, it is worthwhile exploring the relationship between this work and the wider artistic movements of the time whilst also drawing the Irish public\u2019s attention to the presence of this piece amongst the Prado\u2019s collection in which many other important works of the period are featured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sculpture stands out for its sheer size and classical style. As Azcue Brea highlights, this work is \u2018lifesize\u2019 and thus draws our attention to Benett Lawes\u2019 physique and how he appears to represent the level of athleticism that humans can reach and their capacity to theoretically overcome any physical challenge. Owing to his clear use of a classical or \u2018Renaissance\u2019 style, it could be argued that Foley aspired to portray Benett Lawes as an embodiment of the epitome of contemporary masculinity such is his clear physical strength and athleticism. In this way, it seems like Foley adopted a classical style to establish a direct comparison between Benett Lawes and the Gods of the Ancient World whilst forcing us to marvel at his physique and how he represents the highest levels of athleticism to which all mankind should seemingly aspire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst we still have a lot to learn about this particular sculpture, we do know that Foley was a well-respected sculptor in Ireland and Great Britain during the first half of the 19th<\/sup> century having moved to England in the context of the British decision to dissolve Dublin\u2019s parliament and govern all of the then \u2018United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland\u2019 from London. Today, his sculptures figure amongst Dublin\u2019s most famous, amongst them, the statue of Daniel O\u2019Connell, Ireland\u2019s 19th<\/sup> century political leader who fought for the rights of Catholics and a greater equality in terms of opportunities and economic resources between Catholics and Protestants. Thanks to his popularity amongst Britain\u2019s ruling classes and his ability to carry out large-scale works, such as the commemorative statue of Prince Albert in London\u2019s Hyde Park, Foley took his opportunity to leave his imprint on Dublin\u2019s urban landscape through his sculpture of some of Ireland\u2019s most consequential political leaders in the context of the country\u2019s struggle towards greater social cohesion throughout the 19th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the desire of the first Irish governments after independence (1922-) to distance Ireland from its past as a British colony and their mistrust of Protestants owing to their more moderate attitudes towards future relations with Britain, the Irish state refused to adequately recognise the achievements of great Irish artists, such as Foley, who contributed greatly to the development of Ireland\u2019s \u2018historical memory\u2019 through the design of his sculptures. By learning about the Prado\u2019s efforts to inform the public about the artist and his great work, it is high time that Irish people take note of the connection that Foley wished to forge with our 19th<\/sup> century history and the importance of remembering this period about which regrettably many of us know very little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text by Philip McGuinness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Entre los impresionantes cuadros de grandes maestros como Vel\u00e1zquez, Goya y Caravaggio custodiados en el Museo del Prado, se halla una escultura del irland\u00e9s John Henry Foley (1818-1874) llamada \u2018Charles Benett Lawes como atleta victorioso en reposo\u2019. Esta escultura representa a Charles Benett Lawes, un arist\u00f3crata ingl\u00e9s que se form\u00f3 como escultor en Londres junto […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1505],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}