Stuart Lochhead Sculpture

Stuart Lochhead Sculpture Dealer specialised in European Sculpture from late medieval to early 20th century based in Mayfair, London

Set within a richly imagined temple interior, this newly rediscovered panel by Valentin van Orley captures the moment de...
10/06/2026

Set within a richly imagined temple interior, this newly rediscovered panel by Valentin van Orley captures the moment described in the Gospel of Luke when the Virgin Mary presents the Christ Child in the Temple forty days after his birth.

Valentin transforms the biblical narrative into a spectacle of colour, texture, and ornament. The scene unfolds within a monumental architectural setting animated by Romanesque forms, classical decoration, and vividly observed figures. The High Priest overlooks the ceremony in his magnificent headdress (Fig. 1), while an open portal to the left—crowned by three putti carved in high relief—reveals a procession approaching the temple (Fig. 2). Two elegantly dressed women carry candles and sacrificial doves (Fig. 3), their shimmering brocades and vibrant colours enlivening the composition. Throughout, the artist revels in the tactile qualities of silk, marble, metal, and carved stone.

Exhibited publicly for the first time since its rediscovery, The Presentation in the Temple sheds new light on one of the most enigmatic artists active in the Duchy of Brabant in the early sixteenth century. Best known through the celebrated Saluzzo Altarpiece (Fig. 4), created in collaboration with the workshop of the sculptor Jan Borman, Valentin emerges here as a painter uniquely attuned to the dialogue between painting and sculpture. The carved putti, illusionistic reliefs, and sculptural treatment of the architecture exemplify this interplay, while revealing an artist deeply indebted to Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, yet equally responsive to the innovations of the Italian Renaissance.

Our forthcoming exhibition, Valentin van Orley and His World: A Rediscovery in Netherlandish Painting (18 June–17 July 2026) offers a rare opportunity to rediscover this master through one of the most significant finds in early Netherlandish painting in recent years. As part of the exhibition, the panel will travel to Westminster Abbey for a special one-day presentation at the second edition of Studiolo on 26 June.

🔗 For more information about our exhibition, see the link in our bio

Introducing a very special royal dog – Mouton! When Queen Victoria, a notable patron of women artists in nineteenth-cent...
27/05/2026

Introducing a very special royal dog – Mouton! 

When Queen Victoria, a notable patron of women artists in nineteenth-century Britain, commissioned a series of portraits of her household pets at Windsor Castle, she turned to the sculptor Alice Mary Chaplin, an artist celebrated for her small-scale animalier sculpture who exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1880 and 1897.

This charming terracotta represents the poodle Mouton, one of the Queen’s favourite breeds, whose name derives from the French word for ‘sheep’ – a playful reference to the dog’s dense, woolly coat. Although several works by Chaplin appear in the Royal Collections, terracottas by the artist are exceptionally rare, making this sculpture a remarkable example of her refined modelling.

What makes the work so compelling is Chaplin’s extraordinary handling of clay: the animated modelling of the shaggy and clipped coat, the alert gaze, and the wonderfully lifelike posture all convey the distinctive personality of the Queen’s beloved pet.

So admired was Chaplin within royal circles that, by the end of the century, contemporaries referred to her simply as ‘the Queen’s sculptress’.



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Mary Alice Chaplin (1848–1921), Mouton, 1882, terracotta, 12.5 x 19 x 7 cm

Painting sculpture?Standing before Francisco de Zurbarán’s figures at the National Gallery, one understands why early vi...
20/05/2026

Painting sculpture?

Standing before Francisco de Zurbarán’s figures at the National Gallery, one understands why early viewers reportedly mistook his Crucifixion in the dimly lit sacristy of San Pablo el Real in Seville (Fig. 1) for polychrome sculpture. His saints similarly possess this extraordinary physical presence: draperies fall with monumental weight, white habits catch the light like sculpted ivory, and fabrics seem woven rather than painted.

The exhibition reveals how deeply Zurbarán’s art was shaped by seventeenth-century Sevillian sculpture and material culture. The son of a cloth merchant, he developed an astonishing sensitivity to texture and volume, especially in the folds of drapery. In works such as Saint Casilda (Fig. 2), the luminous white drapery of Saint Serapion (Fig. 3), or the majestic figures from Jacob and his Twelve Sons (Fig. 4), cloth becomes almost architectural — recalling the richly painted sculptures that filled Sevillian churches and monasteries.

His crucifixions in particular carry this sculptural force. Zurbarán’s The Crucified Christ with a Painter (Fig. 5) — perhaps a disguised self-portrait — evokes the powerful realism of Juan Martínez Montañés, whose carved crucifixes (Fig. 6) profoundly shaped the visual culture of Seville. The striking image of Christ affixed with four nails, shared by both artist and sculptor, would later appear in works by Diego Velázquez.

Often overshadowed by his contemporaries, it is a pleasure to see a major exhibition in the UK finally ‘shed light’ on Zurbarán!



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The Crucifixion, 1627, oil on canvas, 290.3 × 165.5 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago.
Saint Casilda, about 1635, oil on canvas, 171 × 107 cm, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Saint Serapion, 1628, oil on canvas, 120.7 × 104.1 cm, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
Asher (detail), about 1640–5, oil on canvas, 201.7 × 104.4 cm, Auckland Palace.
The Crucified Christ with a Painter, about 1650, oil on canvas, 105 × 84 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado.
Juan Martínez Montañés and Francisco Pacheco, Christ of Clemency, c. 1603–1605, polychromed wood, Seville Cathedral.

The Ukrainian-born artist and sculptor Alexander Archipenko revolutionised modern art by applying Cubist principles to t...
13/05/2026

The Ukrainian-born artist and sculptor Alexander Archipenko revolutionised modern art by applying Cubist principles to three-dimensional forms.

Created in 1909, this Bust of a Young Girl (Portrait de Mlle S.) is an exceptionally rare work from the artist’s earlier years. Long before he became one of the pioneers of modern sculpture, Archipenko was already experimenting with the simplified, mask-like forms that would define his style.

Measuring 38 cm high, this plaster portrait captures a young girl with elongated features and a strikingly expressive face. Viewed from different angles, her expression appears to change – from stern and introspective to subtly smiling.

The sculpture was exhibited at the groundbreaking Salon des Indépendants in Paris in 1910, before being shown in Germany and disappearing into a private collection for nearly a century.

When it resurfaced in Switzerland in 2002, extensive archival research confirmed its authenticity.

An extraordinary survival, this intimate plaster offers a rare glimpse into the formative imagination of one of the twentieth century’s most innovative sculptors.

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Alexander Archipenko (1887–1964), Bust of a Young Girl (Portrait de Mlle S.), 1909, polychrome cement-based plaster, Height 38.1 cm

In ancient Greek thought, human nature was divided between reason and instinct, embodied by Apollo and Dionysus (Bacchus...
08/05/2026

In ancient Greek thought, human nature was divided between reason and instinct, embodied by Apollo and Dionysus (Bacchus), figures of order and chaos, clarity and intoxication. This exceptional late Baroque bronze by Giuseppe Piamontini embraces the latter.

A satyr dances, carrying a young companion on his back as wine spills from his cup – the emblem of Dionysian excess. Twisting forms, finely chased surfaces, and a warm, reddish-gold patina create a striking sense of movement.

Rooted in antiquity yet shaped by Renaissance and Florentine traditions, the work draws on classical prototypes while alluding to Michelangelo’s now lost ‘Mask of a Satyr’ (Fig. 2) and the fauns (Fig. 3) for the fountain of Piazza della Signoria.

One of only two known casts commissioned by the Medici and the Martelli family, the present bronze is identified with the one owned by the latter, among the most distinguished patrons of Renaissance Florence. The sculpture stands as a testament to Piamontini’s mastery and to a unique culture of collecting, scholarship, and artistic invention.
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Giuseppe Piamontini (1644–1742), Faun Carrying a Young Satyr, model conceived in 1698, this example cast c. 1717, bronze, 78 × 32 × 25 cm
Michelangelo Buonarroti (attr.), Mask of a Faun, marble, 1489, formerly Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Bartolomeo Ammannati, Faun (from the Fountain of Neptune), bronze, 1561-1574, Florence, Piazza della Signoria

“Even in our age of female emancipation, one would hardly wish to ascribe this picture, which shows a highly vigorous, a...
06/05/2026

“Even in our age of female emancipation, one would hardly wish to ascribe this picture, which shows a highly vigorous, almost coarse conception, to a woman’s hand…” 

So wrote Gustav Glück, the first curator of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, when confronted with the monumental ‘Triumph of Bacchus’ (Fig. 2), long attributed to Charles Wautier. For centuries, the painting’s true author – Michaelina Wautier – went unrecognised, its scale, subject and male nudity deemed incompatible with a woman’s hand. Yet the work is wholly characteristic: uniting her striking colour palette with the richer handling of her religious paintings, Wautier also ‘signs’ the composition by inserting herself as a bacchante (Fig. 1) who meets the viewer’s gaze – an unequivocal assertion of artistic authority.

The current exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts restores Wautier as a trailblazing seventeenth-century northern artist, comparable in originality and ambition to Artemisia Gentileschi. A highlight from the show is the rediscovered series of the five senses – sight, smell, taste, sound, and touch (Fig. 3-6) – long thought lost and rediscovered at auction in 2019. Presented here for the first time in Europe since their rediscovery, these works transform traditional personifications into vivid studies of childhood, drawn from figures Wautier encountered in Brussels. Their recovery has also illuminated her technique: working rapidly in oil, she laid down successive strokes that blend on the surface, as seen in her distinctive rendering of hair. Besides showcasing her exceptional powers of observation in portraiture, they are exceptionally charming and humorous…
 
In short, don’t turn your nose up on this fantastic exhibition!

Congratulations for the excellent show
~
Michaelina Wautier, Triumph of Bacchus, 1655-59, oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Michaelina Wautier, The Five Senses (Smell, Taste, Sound), 1650, oil on canvas, Private Collection

Spring has arrived! And our gallery in Bond Street is looking more beautiful than ever…We are extremely excited for the ...
23/04/2026

Spring has arrived! And our gallery in Bond Street is looking more beautiful than ever…

We are extremely excited for the season ahead, with a programme of gallery events and an upcoming auction season to look forward to, as well as friends and colleagues to reconnect with following a memorable TEFAF!

Come experience the quiet of the gallery before the busy season kicks in...

📍Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, 22 Old Bond Street, London

Any Easter plans? If you find yourself in Paris over the break, Visages d’Artistes at the Petit Palais is well worth a v...
01/04/2026

Any Easter plans? If you find yourself in Paris over the break, Visages d’Artistes at the Petit Palais is well worth a visit. The exhibition explores the artist’s portrait in the nineteenth century through key works from the museum’s collection, featuring some of the most interesting figures active in fin-de-siècle Paris. It also includes contemporary responses by women artists based in France, who reinterpret the genre as a site of self-exploration and identity.

Among the highlights is a haunting late self-portrait by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, executed in 1874 at the end of his life. Emerging from darkness, his hollow, jaundiced face and glassy eyes bear the marks of illness, yet the image remains imbued with a profound sense of dignity in the face of death.

Fernand Cormon’s 1877 portrait of the sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse presents the artist at the height of his career, shortly after his appointment at the Manufacture de Sèvres. Exhibited at the Salon of 1877, the work testifies to the close artistic exchanges and friendships of the period; at the same Salon, the sculptor presented a celebrated terracotta bust of Cormon.

A central figure is Jean Carriès, represented through Louise Breslau’s evocative studio portrait, which captures him as both craftsman and “image maker” beside some of his most famous works. This is complemented by sculptural works, including a striking terracotta bust of Eugène Allard, whose veiled head — derived from a death mask provided after his murder — conveys dramatic intensity and funereal lyricism. A group of masks further underscores Carriès’s fascination with the expressive potential of the human face, realised through his mastery of glazed earthenware.

The exhibition ultimately reconsiders portraiture as a space of artistic exchange, lineage, and critique, with the studio at its core. Not to miss!

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Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Self-Portrait, oil on canvas, 1874
Fernand Cormon, Portrait de Carrier-Belleuse, oil on canvas, 1877
Louise Breslau, Sculptor Jean Carriès in his Studio, oil on canvas, 1886–1887
Jean Carriès, Eugène Allard with a Veil, terracotta, 1876–1877
Jean Carriès, Masks, glazed earthenware, 1887–1997

What a fantastic edition of TEFAF it has been! With the fair closing last week, we thought it would be good to share a b...
24/03/2026

What a fantastic edition of TEFAF it has been! With the fair closing last week, we thought it would be good to share a brief story about a remarkable sale from TEFAF Maastricht 2025.

The figure above is an exceptional gilt bronze of St. Sebastian by Pietro Tacca, the great successor of Giambologna who inherited his workshop and became court sculptor to the Medici in Baroque Florence. When we exhibited it at Maastricht last year, it was immediately acquired by a private collector from the US who promised it on the spot as a gift for the Museum of Fine Arts in San Francisco, where it is now beautifully displayed.

This is the magic of TEFAF Maastricht – the only place where museums and collectors come together to make an acquisition like this possible, collaborating to create something of lasting value for visitors and art lovers around the world.

See you next year, TEFAF Maastricht!

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Pietro Tacca, St. Sebastian, modelled and cast c. 1610-1615, gilt and patinated bronze, Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco

Where Victorian sculpture meets timeless virtue. A leading figure of the New Sculpture movement, Drury brought poetry an...
18/03/2026

Where Victorian sculpture meets timeless virtue.
 
A leading figure of the New Sculpture movement, Drury brought poetry and emotion to British sculpture, from monumental public works to intimate bronzes.
 
This rare bronze bust of Griselda, inspired by Boccaccio’s Decameron, captures the story’s themes of patience, endurance, and quiet resilience. One of only two larger versions, it remained in the artist’s family until 2025 and shows Drury’s mastery of lost-wax casting and delicate modelling. The other version was bought directly from the artist in 1897 after being exhibited at the Royal Academy, and is now in Tate.
 
⏳TEFAF Maastricht closes tomorrow!
 
📍 Come and see this work at Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, TEFAF Maastricht, Stand 108 👀
 
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Alfred Drury, Griselda, c. 1896, bronze, 50 x 50 x 22 cm

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