BENJAMIN EDWARD SPENCE (1822-1866): A LARGE MARBLE FIGURE 'HIGHLAND MARY', CIRCA 1855

BENJAMIN EDWARD SPENCE (1822-1866): A LARGE MARBLE FIGURE 'HIGHLAND MARY' CIRCA 1855

the standing figure wearing a shawl, her long flowing drapery revealing her feet, on a shaped integral base, signed 'SPENCE FT. ROMAE.',

122cm high

Footnote:

Benjamin Edward Spence studied at the Liverpool Academy Schools, and later went out to Rome, where he became an assistant at the studio of the important Neo-Classical sculptor, John Gibson. He evenutally set up his own studio in Rome, and the Classical style he learnt under Gibson is still evident in this marble figure. Other versions depict Mary wearing a fringed shawl and holding a book, attributes which the previous generation of sculptors would not have added to their strictly classically inspired works. The present marble figure differs slightly in pose from the other versions of 'Highland Mary' but must surely represent the same subject, which was the sculptor's most famous work. Here, her right hand is raised to clutch at her shawl, rather than her left, but the emotive depiction is otherwise very similar.

The most famous version of this marble is now on display in the Guard Chamber at Buckingham Palace, and is signed B.E. SPENCE FECIT ROMAE 1854. It was commissioned by Albert, the Prince Consort as a birthday gift to his wife, Queen Victoria. A fittingly romantic gift, as the work depicts Mary Campbell (1763-1786), the lover of poet Robert Burns, who died young from a fever, leaving the poet heartbroken; and composed several songs about her, including the 1792 ballad, "Highland Mary."

O pale, pale now, those rosy lips,
I aft hae kiss'd sae fondly!
And clos'd for aye, the sparkling glance
That dwalt on me sae kindly!
And mouldering now in silent dust,
That heart that lo'ed me dearly!
But still within my bosom's core
Shall live my Highland Mary.

There are a number of other versions, including the 1852 example which is known to have been made for the wealthy businessman Charles Meigh of Grove House, Shelton. Another version is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Inv. No. 136.1982, and another dated 1854, is at The Palm House, Sefton Park, Liverpool.

Auction Comparable: See Bonhams New York, 23 January 2014, lot 1165, sold $37,500. This version dated 1859 and very similar to the Buckingham Palace example.

Related Literature:

Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982.

Stevens, Timothy. "Spence, Benjamin Evans (bap. 1803, d. 1866)." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Viewed 22 March 2009.

Art Journal (1852), p. 259, illustrated (1852 version)
Art Journal (1866), p. 364
Art Journal (1870), p. 221
J. Murray Graham, M.A., An Historical View of Literature and Art in Great Britain, Longmans, Green & Company, 1871, p. 457
Edward Strahan, ed., The Art Treasures of America, vol. 2, George Barrie, 1880, p. 24.