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George MacDonald, 1824 - 1905, Poet and Novellist

Sculptor: Lawson, George Anderson, HRSA · 1832-1904

RSA Exhib Cat 1873 records the work as a bronze, however amongst the George Buchan Simpson correspondence (NLS MS 6350 fols 171-174) is a letter (fol 171) from Lawson to Simpson from 36 Gloster Rd, London, 1871-07-11 enclosing a copy of this bust. (fol 173) is a subsequent letter following Simpson’s disappointment as to the weight of Lawson’s piece, Lawson explains; “The bust is not an ordinary bronze casting produced by running molten metal into an earthen mould, it is an “electrotype” that is a deposit of pure copper by electrical agency into a gelatine mould taken from the original model, thus producing an absolute facsimile of the clay….” (vide transcripts in Artist file)

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