THE YOUNG BULL & HERDSMAN
THE YOUNG BULL & HERDSMAN
Top: The Young Bull & Herdsman Sculpture (as photographed in stereo) at the Melbourne Art Gallery and Museum - now the State Library Victoria.
Top: The Young Bull & Herdsman Sculpture outside the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria building at
the Melbourne Showgrounds
YOUNG BULL &
HERDSMAN SCULPTURE
The Young Bull and Herdsman sculpture that
greets visitors to the RASV was first exhibited
at the Royal Academy, London in 1887 and
a year later was shown and sold at the 1888
Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne.
The sculpture was originally displayed in the
National Gallery of Victoria which, together
with the Museum of Victoria and State Library
of Victoria, shared the building complex
currently housing the State Library.
The Young Bull and Herdsman was gifted to
the RASV by the National Gallery of Victoria
in 1941.
Made of Sicilian marble, the Young Bull and
Herdsman, is the work of renowned British
sculptor and medallist Sir Joseph Edgar
Boehm (1834 – 1890).
SIR JOSEPH EDGAR
BOEHM
Austrian by birth, Boehm settled in London
in 1862 and rapidly rose to acclaim. He was
a talented and prolific artist who enjoyed
the patronage of the British Royal family and
members of the aristocracy. Queen Victoria
greatly admired his work and appointed him
Sculptor in Ordinary to the Queen in 1881.
Boehm portrayed Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert several times and their daughter
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, was his
most famous student.
The majority of Boehm’s works are portrait
busts but his great works include the colossal
statue of Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle,
the Duke of Wellington in Hyde Park, Duke
of Kent in St George’s Chapel and General
Gordon in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Boehm also sculpted the large bronze St
George and the Dragon (1885) currently sited
outside the State Library Victoria.
THE YOUNG BULL & HERDSMAN
CREATING THE YOUNG BULL AND HERDSMAN
The earliest reference to a Young Bull
and Herdsman sculpture on an 1869
price list reveals that Boehm initially
created a miniature bronze by this name.
At least four examples of the miniature
were sold and they can be found today
in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London
and in private collections. The miniature
is largely the same as the marble
sculpture but there are minor variations
in the pose and the bronze is much more
textured in comparison to the marble.
The popularity of the miniature led
Boehm to create a life size plaster
version, which was shown at London
International Exhibition in 1871 with a
price tag of 500 guineas for plaster and
1000 guineas for a bronze sculpture.
(There do not appear to be any sales of
the work in plaster or bronze with the
South Kensington Museum purchasing
the original plaster from Boehm’s estate
after his death in 1891).
In 1887, Boehm reproduced the Young
Bull and Herdsman in marble and it
was prominently placed in the Central
Hall of the Royal Academy, London and
reproduced in several periodicals. The
work, together with St George and the
Dragon, was shipped to Melbourne for
the 1888 Centennial Exhibition.
The Young Bull and Herdsman recently underwent an extensive
conservation treatment to repair and stabilise it.
Proactively caring for and conserving our artefacts will ensure that
the rich history of the RASV lives on for future generations.
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