LOUIS OSMAN (BRITISH 1914-1996) AND GRAHAM SUTHERLAND O.M. (BRITISH 1903-1980) §
CRUCIFIXION, c. 1961-64
£5,796
Auction: Day Sale (Lots 52 to 481) - 26 April at 10am
Description
gilt bronze, prototype for the central part of the new altar cross of Ely Cathedral
Dimensions
15.2cm high, 17.8cm wide (6in high, 7in wide)
Provenance
Acquired when Osman's house, Harpton Court, Presteigne, was sold by his daughter, Marie-Louise;
Brightwells, Leominster, 16 March 2016, lot 673, where acquired by the present owner.
Footnote
Designed by Graham Sutherland and Louis Osman, the new cross for Ely Cathedral was unveiled in 1964 and the four feet high work was created to be the focal point for tens of thousands of visitors and worshippers who visited the Cathedral. The finished work shows the twisted body of an ascending Christ, before curving petals or flames in silver, and a projecting form made in black niello enamel on silver. The work was jointly designed over three years by Sutherland and Osman and the cost - several thousand pounds - was paid by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and by public subscription.
Ely Cathedral subsequently sold the full work to Winston Churchill's great friends, art collectors Emery and Wendy Reves, who displayed it for many years in their home in the south of France. Sometime after Emery died in 1981 it was on loan and exhibited in the Dallas Museum of Art, alongside Osman's drawings.
The photos shows Louis Osman with the finished Ely Cross at Goldsmith’s Hall in London in 1964.
Photo Credit: Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS