Manual Ref* SUseIC002 Show 4 images 695
Title*

Fury of Athamas
County Suffolk   District Council St Edmunsbury 
Civil Parish or equivalent Horringer  Town/Village* Ickworth House 
Road A143 
Precise Location Rotunda of Ickworth House 
OS Grid Ref TL812613  Postcode IP29 
Previous location(s) Commissioned in Rome removed by French and then bought back 
Setting Inside  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
John Flaxman  Sculptor(s)   

Commissioned by

 Frederick Augustus Hervey 4th Earl of Bristol, PC ( 1730 – 1803) known as The Earl-Bishop 

Design & Constrn period

 1790 

Date of installing

 1820s 

Exact date of unveiling

  

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Statue based on Ovid

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Fury  Marble  H. & W. 2 metres 
Plinth  Marble  H 80 cms. W. 2.20 metresW 2 metres 

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 National Trust 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail: NB. Ickworth is listed Grade I,which must cover the Fury of Athamas, as part of the house's contents, although it is not mentioned in the listing.

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks  
Inscriptions  

Description (physical)

 The group is set at the back in the rotunda at Ickworth where it is framed by pilasters and receives natural light from above. A Laocoon -like Athamas strides in fury with his son over his left shoulder twisting to dash him to the ground in spite of the pleas of his wife Ino. 

Description (iconographical)

 The scene is the climax of Ovid's account of Juno's revenge on Ino for neglecting her altars. The Furies have taken possession of Athamas's Theban palace to such effect that he believes it is under siege from a wild lioness and her cubs. Senseless he seizes Learchus from his mother who protects their daughter Melicerta. The statue was commissioned from John Flaxman by the 4th Earl of Bristol - the Mitred Earl - in 1790 for £600. The Earl later considered it '‘the finest work ever done in sculpture..exceeding the Laocoon in expression.’ A view which does it less than justice since Flaxman based his group on two of the most famous classical statues the Laocoon in the Vatican and the Niobe group belonging to the Grand Dukes of Tuscany and removed from Rome to Florence by 1770. The Fury of Athamas was confiscated by the French together with the rest of the 4th Earl's collection in 1798, but bought back by his successor the 5th Earl for installation at Ickworth. This acknowledged the 4th Earl's plans to use the house to display his collections. 

Photographs

 Date taken:  19/9/2007
Date logged: 

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  19/9/2007

Inspected by:
Richard Cocke

Sources and References

 Fothergill, B., The Mitred Earl. An Eighteenth Century Eccentric, London, 1974 130 Cornforth, J., ‘Ickworth Suffolk’ Country Life 19/8/1999 40-44 Haskell F. & Penny N. Taste and the Antique The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900 New Haven and London 1981 274-279 

Database

 Date entered:  20/9/2007

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke