Skip to main content
Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975) Talos 172 cm. (67 5/8 in.) high (Conceived in 1963, in an edition of 3) image 1
Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975) Talos 172 cm. (67 5/8 in.) high (Conceived in 1963, in an edition of 3) image 2
Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975) Talos 172 cm. (67 5/8 in.) high (Conceived in 1963, in an edition of 3) image 3
Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975) Talos 172 cm. (67 5/8 in.) high (Conceived in 1963, in an edition of 3) image 4
Lot 96AR,TP

Michael Ayrton
(British, 1921-1975)
Talos 172 cm. (67 5/8 in.) high

19 June 2024, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £32,000 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Modern British & Irish Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975)

Talos
bronze with a brown and blue/green patina
172 cm. (67 5/8 in.) high
Conceived in 1963, in an edition of 3

Footnotes

Provenance
Sir Cyril and Lady Judy Denman Taylor
Sale; Lyon and Turnbull, London, 27 March 2019

Talos is described as the guardian of Crete, a being cast of bronze whose task was to wade around the island driving off potential enemies by flinging large boulders. Ayrton, sceptical by nature and with the disillusion common to the generation who grew up in the shadows of two World Wars commented of his sentinel figures that '[their] guardianship is, of course, a fiction [but] a certain tranquillity lies in [their] stupid presence ... [they have] no brains and no arms, but look powerful'. This final, culminating figure, close to life size, angular and menacing, might indeed foster an illusion of comfort for those who need to believe in a place of safety.

Only two casts of the declared edition of three were ever made; the present cast and another cast which was given anonymously to the City of Cambridge in 1973 and remains sited on Guildhall Street.

We are grateful to Justine Hopkins for compiling this catalogue entry.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Jessica Dismorr(British, 1885-1939)Self Portrait 55.4 x 40.1 cm. (21 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.)

Vanessa Bell(British, 1879-1961)Church of the Redentore, Venice 38.3 x 55.9 cm. (15 x 22 in.)

Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A.(British, 1930-1993)Warrior (Small Warrior) 36.4 cm. (14 3/8 in.) high

Winifred Nicholson(British, 1893-1981)Flowers - Sutton Veny 76.2 x 68.6 cm. (30 x 27 in.)

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.(British, 1887-1976)People at the Beach 31.3 x 40.4 cm. (12 3/8 x 16 1/8 in.)

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.(British, 1887-1976)Five Figures 26.5 x 18.2 cm. (10 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.)