Description
Autograph Letter Signed, asking her correspondent whether it would be possible for “the marble bust of “Ruth” which I have exhibited at the International to be so placed as to receive the light either by putting it nearer the centre of the Gallery or on the opposite side”, thanking him for the admirable arrangement, adding she will visit the Gallery to clean the marble tomorrow. 3 pp. 7 x 4 inches, in fine condition, second leaf neatly laid down on a Victorian album page. 3 Bryanston Place, 25 April, no year given. Susan Durant (1827-1873), sculptor. Durant had a highly successful career, winning the Society of Arts silver medal for a portrait bust in 1847, exhibiting two works at the Great Exhibition and receiving some high-profile commissions. For example, she was the only woman out of the fourteen sculptors asked to sculpt figures from English literature for the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. In fact, her “Faithful Shepherdess” was the first major public work ever commissioned from a female sculptor in England.