Teucer

Teucer is one of the founding icons of the New Sculpture movement in Britain, along with Alfred Gilbert's Perseus Arming (#2005.4), on display on the right. It shows Thornycroft's interest in developing a more naturalistic and expressive treatment of the human form. The subject comes from Homer's Iliad: Teucer was the archer who fired eight times at the Trojan warrior Hector. Thornycroft depicts him at the exact moment he has shot the last of his arrows. The figure stands caught between the tension of aiming and the relaxation of releasing the bowstring. The sculptor's attention to naturalistic details reveals itself particularly in the torso, where the skin tightens over each of the figure's ribs, and the wrist, which shows every straining tendon.