Height: 33cm (13in)
Patinated bronze. Standing figure of a Grenadier Guardsman, modelled in campaign dress of the Crimean War, 1854-55, with bearskin and armed with Minie rifle and fixed bayonet; raised on an integral bronze base inscribed ‘Grenadier Guard’ to the front and dated ‘1854’ to the reverse. Signed to the right side ‘Hamilton M’Carthy’.
The 1st (or Grenadier) Regiment of Foot Guards served with distinction during the Crimean War (1854-55), seeing action at the Alma (1854), Inkerman (1854) and Sevastopol (1854-55), in uniforms that differed little from those worn for ceremonial duties. The present bronze is attributed to Hamilton Wright MacCarthy (1810-1882) who exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution in 1838 and between 1846 and 1867. He was the father of the monumental sculptor Hamilton Thomas Carlton Plantagenet MacCarthy RCA (1846-1939).