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拍品专文
Leighton's third and most unusual sculpture, Needless Alarms was exhibited alongside his second and more widely known work, The Sluggard, at the Royal Academy in 1886 (no. 1922). In its depiction of a young girl turning away in fright from a toad at her feet, the work conforms to a favourite pre-occupation of the New Sculptors, that of presenting the youthful naked form in strong contrapposto. Unlike The Sluggard and his celebrated work of 1877, An Athlete wrestling with a Python, both large-scale sculptures, Leighton's Needless Alarms falls quite definitely into the category of statuette, and its appeal to a less literary public as a decorative object for the domestic interior is re-enforced by the obvious humour with which the figure has been imbued. This fact was emphasised by Leonora Lang, critic for the Art Journal, who wrote in 1886 that Leighton had 'never done anything more charming, or that appealed to a larger number'.
The original lost wax cast of Needless Alarms shown at the Academy was much admired by the painter John Everett Millais, to whom Leighton subsequently gave it as a gift (now untraced). As thanks, Millais presented Leighton with his specially painted canvas, Shelling Peas (now in Leighton House). An edition of Needless Alarms was published in 1897 by Arthur L. Collie, and later by others, and a cast was shown at the seminal Fine Art Society exhibition of 1902, Sculpture for the Home.
The original lost wax cast of Needless Alarms shown at the Academy was much admired by the painter John Everett Millais, to whom Leighton subsequently gave it as a gift (now untraced). As thanks, Millais presented Leighton with his specially painted canvas, Shelling Peas (now in Leighton House). An edition of Needless Alarms was published in 1897 by Arthur L. Collie, and later by others, and a cast was shown at the seminal Fine Art Society exhibition of 1902, Sculpture for the Home.