Emily, one of our Conservators, is this week steam cleaning sculptures in advance of their display in the upcoming exhibition at the Hatton Gallery.
John Graham Lough (1798-1876) (2 Dec 2011 – 18 Feb 2012)
Emily Steam Cleaning one of the Sculptures
My colleague Rob at the Hatton explained that “these four fantastic marble sculptures grace the entance foyer of the Newcastle University Fine Art Department and Hatton Gallery, they are by the locally born sculptor John Graham Lough and were donated by the 10th Duke of Northumberland.
Their constant presence does perhaps for regular visitor and users of the building make them blend into the background, so we decided that a clean and ‘re-presentation’ of them as part of a bigger exhibition in the gallery, would bring them and Lough himself back into the public eye.
As the sculptor of both the Stephenson Memorial near central Station and the Collingwood Memorial at Tynemouth, Lough’s works is perhaps better known than people think, but his name is now rarely associated with these well know public monuments.
In his heyday c. 1828-62 however he was very well known and often hailed alongside the likes of Stepehenson and Bewick as a local man ‘of genius’.