Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) politician, diplomat and archaeologist

Location

Country: Turkey
City: Ankara
Place: British Embassy

This medallion is apparently the result of a private project which occupied Enid, Lady Layard for a great many years. Her commencement in producing a portrait medal of her husband, Henry, is first mentioned in her diary in September 1882, when she records that ‘Sr Felice’ brought her ‘clay & necessaries for modelling a medallion.’ In October that year, Spanish painter Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz offered advice on the work and then in the following month Lady Layard records ‘putting finishing touches to the medallion’. However, less than a week later she was working ‘as usual at my medallion’.

She seems to have returned to this project several times, perhaps creating new versions, because in April 1884 she was beginning ‘a reduction in wax’ and in December 1889 she ‘Began to draw my medal of Henry’. She continued to work on the medal in January 1890 and again in January 1891. Nearly ten years later in November 1900 Lady Layard was again working ‘at the medal of Henry’. In January 1901 Solomon Robert Guggenheim (1861-1949) visited the Layards and ‘kindly offered to have my small medal of Henry cast for me’. Enid’s diary confirms that Guggenheim had ‘undertaken to have my medal of Henry cast in bronze’ the following month.

People

Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817 - 1894)

Places

Subjects

male portrait, archaeology, beard, man, Order of the Bath, diplomat, exploration & discovery

Materials & Techniques

bronze, bronze sculpture, plaque

Artist

(Mary) Enid Evelyn (née Guest), Lady Layard Layard (1843 - 1912)

Title

Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) politician, diplomat and archaeologist

Date

1900

Medium

Circular bronze plaque

Dimensions

height: 18.50 cm, width: 18.50 cm

Acquisition

Presented by Baron Basile de Lemmerman, 1958

Inscription

around upper half: HENRY AUSTEN LAYARD G C B; signed under left shoulder: Enid Layard

Provenance

Collection of Baron Basile de Lemmerman; by whom presented to the Ministry of Works in 1958

GAC number

5077