Alfred George Stevens Design for a Decorative Frieze

An original mid-19th-century chalk drawing – Alfred George Stevens, Design for a Decorative Frieze.

A wonderful neoclassical design for part of a decorative frieze by the celebrated British sculptor Alfred George Stevens (1817–1875).

Alfred Stevens is regarded as a foundational figure for the 'New Sculpture' movement in late 19th-century Britain, recognised as a master who bridged Renaissance principles with modern sculpture and design.

Aged sixteen he travelled to Italy, where he spent nine formative years, studying Renaissance painting and receiving some formal training at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. In 1841–2 he worked in Rome as an assistant to the major neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. Steven's own work was strongly influenced by Italian High Renaissance style; this neoclassical frieze design features a winged putto, classical pedestals, scrolls and laurel wreath, along with ribbon festoons.

Executed in black chalk with black wash, the design is inscribed 'Black Panel[?]', suggesting that it is possibly the design for a cast iron fire surround or chimney piece; highlights in white bodycolour mimic the sheen on black cast iron. In 1850 Stevens became chief designer to a Sheffield firm, Messrs. Hoole and Robson, who specialised in metalwork and won renown for metalwork exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851. He also did work for the Coalbrookdale Iron Company. The festoon ribbons in this design are similar to a cast iron fire surround designed by Stevens for Colebrookdale, now in Colebrookdale Museum of Iron. Stevens' most famous commissions include the chimneypiece for the dining room of Dorchester House in London, and the monument to the Duke of Wellington in St Paul's Cathedral. His work was highly influential to sculptors of the New Sculpture movement, Frederic Leighton, George Frederic Watts and Hamo Thornycroft.

This design is perhaps particularly interesting as evidence of the artist's working process, given the fragmented, composite nature of the piece. The paper appears to have been repeatedly recomposed and extended, consisting of at least four separate segments, which have been laid down on a backing—apparently by the artist himself. The backing sheet has a further sculptural head sketch on the verso, along with the artist's signature. As a result, it very much has a feel of a work in progress, a design most likely never realised, and a snapshot of the creative mind of a man whom Thornycroft described as one of ‘the greatest sculptors this country has ever seen’.

In black chalk with black and brown wash and white bodycolour, on multiple fragments of wove paper. Laid down on pale blue backing paper with further graphite sketch on verso.