Henry Hugh Armstead RA, Design for 'The Courage of David', a relief for the "Guards' Chapel"

Design for 'The Courage of David', a relief for the "Guards' Chapel", 1879

Henry Hugh Armstead RA (1828 - 1905)

RA Collection: Art

This crisply drawn design was for a set of low-relief panels, Armstead's favoured form of sculpture. Commissioned as a memorial for the Guard's Chapel, Wellington Barracks, the finished work was designed and carved by the artist. The scene represents the virtue of Courage, showing King David as a young shepherd wrestling a lion to save his flock. The critic M.H. Spielmann described the reliefs as 'remarkable…fine in imagination and design'.

Object details

Title
Design for 'The Courage of David', a relief for the "Guards' Chapel"
Artist/designer
Date
1879
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Pen and ink with white highlights over pencil on green wove paper
Dimensions

171 mm x 250 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
04/2109
Acquisition
Given by Dr. Hugh Wells Armstead 1932
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