Transfigured Christ
In the 2011 I was approached by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster to design a statue of Transfigured Christ for St James’s Church in Spanish Place, Marylebone, London. The church is listed as Grade 2, one star.
I started my research and gathered much visual information as possible, then came up with a design (below)
After a lengthy process it was approved and I ordered a one ton block of finest Portland basebed limestone and set to work by squaring up in scale from the drawing onto the stone and removing the waste.
This was a lengthy process and a big challenge. Although I had carved faces and hands I had never carved a whole statue.
This is a later stage where I’ve peeled back the layers to reveal the face. It’s still quite rough but it is clearly emerging from the stone.
This is towards the end where the features are now quite clearly defined. Hands and garment are clearly distinguished. The hands still look a little glove-like so they need some work!
Pretty much finished apart from the feet.
Some of the best artists can’t do feet. I don’t put myself even in the category of artist, but I think mine turned out pretty well. I studied feet for a while – the subtle in-turn of the big toe, the way the rest curl inwards and downwards. I think I became slightly obsessed for a short while!
And here is the Transfigured Christ in situ. We had 4 days to install it which involved trimming approximately 1 ton of stone off the existing quatrefoil, lifting the half-ton statue and fixing it securely.
Another view from across the road.
Useful Links
An article on Albion Stone’s website about my figure
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