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Bronze sculpture of a full length figure of a naked youth wearing a fig leaf, standing with arms outstretched to the sides being the figure 'The Sacrifice of Youth' by F N Bose ARSA for the top of the Ormiston War Memorial

Photographer: unknown

Bronze sculpture of a full length figure of a naked youth wearing a fig leaf, standing with arms outstretched to the sides being the figure 'The Sacrifice of Youth' by F N Bose ARSA for the top of the Ormiston War Memorial

Bose himself may have been responsible for the photography however he is known to have had his own portrait taken by the Edinburgh-based commercial…

Bose himself may have been responsible for the photography however he is known to have had his own portrait taken by the Edinburgh-based commercial photographer Drummond Young whilst another Edinburgh photographer Francis Caird Inglis recorded other of Bose's sculptural works and he may have engaged either of them to record this piece.

The piece depicts a naked clean shaven young man wearing a fig leaf, standing, gazing forward, his arms both outstretched to either side, his left knee bent.

The piece is the figure titled 'The Sacrifice of Youth' which stands atop the First World War Ormiston War Memorial in East Lothian.

The figure was exhibited under this title at the RSA Annual Exhibition in 1925 (cat.6).

In its pose the figure resembles the classical marble sculpture 'The Praying Boy of Rhodes' which Bose had copied in plaster whilst a student and which is known from a black and white photograph in the RSA Collections (2024.0069.110). In that piece the arms are outstretched in front and bent upwards, in the present work the outstretched arms to the side were intended to suggest a crucifixion.

The Ormiston War Memorial stands directly in front of the Welfare and Memorial Institute, recessed against the boundary wall. It takes the form of a polished stone shaft, with a carved capital. The shaft is relieved with stone bands on which are inscribed the names of battles closely associated with those of the parish who fell in the War. The base of the memorial bears a bronze tablet, on which is inscribed "In honour and everlasting memory of the men of the parish of Ormiston who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1919" followed by 41 names of the fallen. Bose's figure is set atop the shaft.

Both Institute and Memorial were raised by public subscription, which had commenced as early as June 1919 when £250 was raised over a two day Garden fete, and were unveiled by the Marquis of Linlithgow on Saturday 13 September 1924.

This is one of three recorded First World War Memorials in which Bose was involved. The others being the Memorial plaque to the 80 employees of William Younger and Co Ltd in Edinburgh, and the Memorial Shrine in St John's Kirk of Perth.