Sculpture of Torso of St Agatha of Sicily goes to her new home in London.
On 18th August I received an email enquiry in relation to the purchase of a sculpture from a doctor from London. He had been looking at my website and asked for details of prices. I provided him with prices for works in a range of sizes and materials as a guide and asked him if he had a particular sculpture in mind.
He explained that the sculpture was to be a gift from colleagues at the practice where he had worked for over 35 years but the budget for the work would be dictated by the money that had been raised. I requested that we discuss the commission on the telephone and what materials were available in order to find a solution that would fall within the budget. The sculpture of the Torso of St Agatha was the work chosen and I agreed that a patinated cold cast copper cast like the one seen on my website, pictured above, could be provided.
The client was delighted and we discussed the need of a deposit prior to work beginning on the new cast, to be provided by colleagues at the practice.
Once the deposit had been made materials were ordered for mould-making and casting which was to be undertaken by Ado Sljivic, before the final patination and finishing would be completed by myself in order to replicate the finish on the artist's proof.
I maintained contact with the client and the practice throughout the process and also advised the client of the needs for a suitable pedestal for the sculpture. It was agreed that a pedestal chosen by the client would be ordered from Chilstone, makers of fine cast stone, based in tunbridge Wells. Given that the client was based in London I agreed to collect the pedestal and deliver it, along with the completed sculpture. The pedestal order would be ready in 6 weeks and I promised to have the sculpture completed by that time so that a mutually convenient date for installation could be agreed.
Once the sculpture was completed I provided the client with images of the work in its raw copper state and then again once the patination was complete, in order to ascertain that he was happy with it. Photographs of the finished sculpture were also emailed to the practice along with an invoice for the balance of the work prior to delivery.
The French Pedestal was a custom item, with a larger capital being supplied to fit the sculpture.
It was remarkably heavy and proved quite a challenge on a wet Autumn day when carrying it through the house to access the rear garden where it was to be installed. Thank fully I had help from Adam!
The client has selected where he wanted the pedestal to be installed and we undertook the necessary groundwork and levelling and then completed the installation of the pedestal including drilling the capital to take the fixings to secure the sculpture.
Fixing the sculpture with a stainless steel bolt and nut was a quick and easy job and once fixed the capital was re-aligned. I checked that the client was happy with the sculpture and the installation before asking his permission to take a few quick photographs. Before we packed up and left we were presented with a bottle of champagne as an extra thank you gift. This was so unexpected and so generous.
Once I was home I emailed the client with a short message to say thank you again for choosing my sculpture. and to say,
"I hope it will enhance your garden and bring pleasure to you and your family. Thanks also for your kind gift of the bottle of champagne. It was much appreciated and I gave it to Adam for giving of his time so generously today."
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