Lot 27: After Countess Feodora Von Gleichen (1861-1922): A bronze model of Diana

her right arm drawn back about to shoot an arrow, raised on a circular base above a square canted plinth decorated with large shells to each side, dark brown patination, end of arrow bent, 54cm high

Countess Von Gleichen was a relative of Queen Victoria and studied at the Slade School under Alphonse Legros and then in Rome. The present model is a rare reduction of the Diana from the Diana Fountain, now in the gardens of Hyde Park. The fountain originally stood in woodland grounds of Frognal before being presented to its present position in 1906. The present bronze may have been cast from the model that the artist originally made to present to the commitee dealitng with the commission for approval.
Von Gleichen's other famous commissions include the Edward VII memorial at Windsor and the Florence Nightingale monument in Derby. Shortly before her death she was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1922 and was later posthumously made the first woman member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.