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Sir George James Frampton
A Patinated Bronze Statue Of Peter Pan
£65,000
Sir George James Frampton (British, 1860-1928) A Patinated Bronze Statue Of Peter Pan Depicted playing the pipes and conducting with his right hand....
Dimensions
Height: 47 cm (19 in)Width: 33 cm (13 in)
Depth: 26 cm (11 in)
Weight: 7 kg
PrintDescription
Sir George James Frampton (British, 1860-1928)
A Patinated Bronze Statue Of Peter Pan
Depicted playing the pipes and conducting with his right hand. Standing on a naturalistically cast base.
Signed ‘G F’ in a monogram and ‘P P’ in a roundel. Dated 1913.
England, Dated 1913.
The present charming statuette of Peter Pan, dated 1913, is an exceptionally fine and early reduction of the life-size bronze exhibited by Frampton at the Royal Academy in 1911. Barrie unveiled the statue in Kensington Gardens on 30 April 1912, without fanfare and without permission, so that it might appear to children that the fairies had put it in place overnight. He published a notice in The Times newspaper the following day, 1 May: “There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived.”
How one newspaper announced the statue’s magical appearance in 1912.
The statue stands at the spot where, as recounted in Barrie’s Little White Bird, Peter Pan lands for his nightly visits to the Gardens and where he pipes to the spirits of the children that have played there. The figure is mounted on a rock inhabited by a host of fairies, rabbits and other woodland creatures.
The sculpture which Frampton produced took its inspiration from a series of photographs taken by Barrie in July 1906, two years after the 1904 stage play premiered in London and the same year Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens was published. These photographs feature Michael Llewelyn-Davies, who, along with his brothers, was the original inspiration for the characters. Davies can be seen wearing the costume for Peter Pan which was designed for the play by William Nicholson (who also designed the scenery), and which was to become an essential part of Peter Pan’s identity. In fact, the photograph of Michael wearing the costume became the ideal image of Peter Pan in Barrie’s eyes.
Frampton made six other full-size casts from the original moulds, which are to be found as far afield as Brussels, New Jersey, Toronto and Perth, Australia. The success of the statue was instant, amongst children and adults alike, and its popular appeal led Frampton to produce a bronze reduction of the main figure as an independent statue during his lifetime.
The present example, dated 1913, is one of the earliest recorded and is an especially fine lifetime cast. To avoid inferior posthumous casts which were made to deceive, the collector must observe the detail of the casting and especially the modelling of the pipes. The present example has provenance to the lifetime of the artist. Provenanced examples have realised high prices at auction.
Recorded examples, dated:
1911, Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 1 April 2020, lot 224.
1912, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia.
1913, Sotheby’s, New York, 5 May 1999, lot 388.
1915, William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, Sotheby’s London, 26 Jue 2001.
1915, Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 26 April 2017, lot 224.
1918, The Fine Art Society, sold Sotheby’s, London, 5 February 2019, lot 110.
1918, Sotheby’s, London, 13 November 2007, lot 167.
1920, Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 6 April 2016, lot 413.
Date
Dated 1913
Origin
England
Medium
Patinated Bronze
Signature
Signed 'G F' in a monogram and 'P P' in a roundel. Dated 1913.
Sir George James Frampton (1860–1928)
A Master of the New Sculpture Movement
Portrait of Sir George James Frampton, by hi son Meredith Frampton, Oil on canvas, 1919, National Portrait Gallery (NPG 6339).
Sir George James Frampton was a British sculptor renowned for his contributions to the New Sculpture movement, blending realism, dynamism, and symbolism in his works. He is best known for his iconic statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, commissioned by J.M. Barrie in 1912.
Born in London in 1860, Frampton was the son of James Frampton, a skilled wood and stone carver. After working in his father’s workshop at the age of 18, seeking further experience, he moved to Paris to work on the Hôtel de Ville.
Upon returning to London, he enrolled at the Lambeth School of Art, where he studied under W.S. Frith before advancing to the Royal Academy Schools (1881–1887). His first exhibit at the RA in 1884 was Socrates Teaching the People in the Agora. His talent quickly became evident, earning him a gold medal and a travel scholarship in 1887.
His scholarship took him to Paris, where he studied sculpture under the renowned Antonin Mercié (1845–1916) and painting under Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852–1929) and Gustave Courtois (1852-1923). Mercié introduced him to Romanticism and Symbolism, themes that would later define much of his work. During this period, he exhibited with the Vienna and Munich Secessions as well as Libre Esthétique. His Angel of Death gained him a medal at the Salon of 1889.
Returning to England, Frampton became a leading figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. He was appointed joint head of the London Central School of Art, a position he held throughout the 1890s. His work during this time was experimental, often featuring a combination of materials such as bronze, marble, ivory, and enamels. His Mysteriarch (1892), now in the Walker Art Gallery, exemplifies his mature Symbolist aesthetic.
Frampton was closely associated with the New Sculpture movement, alongside artists like Sir Alfred Gilbert and Hamo Thornycroft. This movement sought to infuse naturalism, movement, and rich symbolism into British sculpture, breaking away from the rigid neoclassicism of the past.
His polychromatic bust Lamia (1899), incorporating ivory, jewels, and bronze, showcased his mastery of mixed materials and became one of his most celebrated works. His reputation continued to rise, leading to commissions for memorials to Queen Victoria in Calcutta, Winnipeg, Merseyside, and Leeds.
Elected a Royal Academician in 1904 and knighted in 1908 for his contributions to British sculpture, he was later elected President of the Royal Society of Sculptors in 1911.
In 1912, J.M. Barrie commissioned Frampton to sculpt Peter Pan, creating one of his most famous works. The bronze statue was secretly erected in Kensington Gardens overnight, allowing it to appear as if placed there by magic. Barrie announced the installation in The Times:
“There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning … a May-day gift by Mr. J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree.”
The statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, London. Source Wikipedia, Public Domain
Due to its overwhelming success, Frampton produced six other full-size casts, now displayed in Brussels, New Jersey, Toronto, St. John’s (Newfoundland), and Perth (Australia).
Frampton’s other works include the tympanum and panels at Lloyd’s Registry and the Sir James Fleming Memorial Plaque. His war memorials, including the Bury Boer War Memorial and the Radley School Memorial.
He was married to Christabel Cockerell (1864-1951), a painter, and their son, Meredith Frampton (1894-1984), became a renowned portrait artist. Frampton passed away in 1928, leaving behind a legacy of artistic excellence. A memorial to Frampton can be found in St. Paul’s Cathedral, depicting a child holding a miniature version of his beloved Peter Pan.
Memorial to George Frampton at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, by Ernest Gillick (1874-1951). Source Wikipedia, Public Domain
Literature:
British Sculpture 1850-1914, The Fine Art Society. Exhibition Catalogue, 30 September-30 October 1968, E.C. Freeman Ltd., London 1968, no. 51. J. Cooper, Nineteenth Century Romantic Bronzes, London 1975, p.85.
B. Read, Victorian Sculpture, Yale University Press, 1982, pp.315-317.
Royal Academy exhibitors, 1905-1970, Volume II, Wakefield, p. 106.
M. Trusted & D. Bilbey, British Sculpture 1470 to 2000 : A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2002, pp. 266 & 267.
267
Gerald Rufus Isaacs, 2nd Marquess of Reading (1889 –1960) and Eva Violet Mond Isaacs, Second Marchioness of Reading (1895–1973).
Thence by descent until sold in 1996.
British Sculpture 1850-1914, The Fine Art Society. Exhibition Catalogue, 30 September-30 October 1968, E.C. Freeman Ltd., London 1968, no. 51
J. Cooper, Nineteenth Century Romantic Bronzes, London 1975, p.85.
B. Read, Victorian Sculpture, Yale University Press, 1982, pp.315-317.
Royal Academy exhibitors, 1905-1970. Volume II, Wakefield, p. 106.
M. Trusted & D. Bilbey, British Sculpture 1470 to 2000 : A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2002, pp. 266 & 267
