Beschreibung:

SCULPTURE BUST OF BARONESS MARGARET THATCHER 2007 AD A bronze maquette bust of Baroness Thatcher at the time of her resignation in 1990, on a rectangular base with threaded sockets to the underside, a private commission sculpted by the renowned official Margaret Thatcher artist Antony Dufort 335 grams, 11cm (4 1/4"). Very fine condition. Provenance Property of an English gentleman. Footnotes In 2003, Antony Dufort was commissioned by the Advisory Committee on the Works of Art to produce a bronze statue of Baroness Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of Great Britain, to be installed by the doors to the Commons Chamber in the Palace of Westminster, opposite the statue of Winston Churchill The sculpture was the first of a former Prime Minister to be installed during the lifetime of the subject, after a change to the parliamentary rules in 2002 which previously forbade the erection of statues of living parliamentarians in the House. It was unveiled on 21 February 2007 by the then Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon. Michael Martin MP. Thatcher, known as the 'Iron Lady' during her tenure of office, quipped: "I might have preferred iron, but bronze will do. It won't rust." A smaller bronze statue of the baroness, also by Dufort, was sold for £210,000 in February 2015 at a private Conservative Party auction. Thatcher's pose was selected to show her in vigorous debate, papers in one hand, jabbing with the forefinger of the other. At a private viewing before the public ceremony, Baroness Thatcher declared that she was 'thrilled' with the portrayal. Dufort was chosen for the task because of his reputation, arising from previous works depicting Nottinghamshire miners. He studied history at New College Oxford, from 1967 to 1971 and took a Masters Degree in Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art, London, in 1976. He has exhibited widely in Europe and the USA. Portraits and sculptures by Dufort are housed in many notable private, public, corporate and museum collections. In the field of sculpture, he specializes in portraiture, historical figures, the representation of movement and the mining industry.