The beautiful males of Ian Rank-Broadley

Ian Rank-Broadley, born in Surrey (England) in 1952, is one of the few successful living sculptors who predominantly sculpts the male figure, and the male nude. Being monumental groups, portraits, small medals, reliefs or attractive life size bodies, he masters the anatomy & the movement, giving you the real envy to touch them.

As he declares himself in his website : "'The choice of the male figure / nude as a dominant motif was made quite early when I realised that the female nude had, to a large extent, been robbed of its power by the commercial world of advertising, whereas the male nude still retained a power that could excite, grab attention and shock. The reaction of the spectator to the male figure was stronger, whether out of competition, fear or embarrassment. It proved to be a potent image. For me, the sculptor, this fact reinforced the work with a greater resonance and meaning.''
 

Many of Ian Rank-Broadley sculptures have a classical influence, like his Heroic Torso and fragments etc. The towel on the work above gives somewhat a more contemporary look, which I like a lot as well.

Below is his large sculpture in bronze 'Towards Another'  life size.

Towards Another - Bronze

Towards Another - Bronze

And here some of his reliefs (you can read the inspiration of these on the sculptor's website).

Berlin Boy 1

Berlin Boy 2

A private collection holds this Heroic Male Torso. More details about the lizzard in his website!

Other versions.

One of Ian Rank-Broadley major projects is the Armed Forces Memorial, at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire. Mythology (with Achilles & Patrocle) and symbolic (sun rays) play a role in these two groups of sculptures 'The Stretchers Bearers' and 'The Gates'. See the full story, more pictures and description in the link at the end of this post under 'Sources'.

The Stretchers - detail

The Sculptor - detail

Photo from les.shutterchance.com

The Gates - detail

I encourage you to visit his website to get a full idea of his talent and discover his other sculptures, like the acrobat, the swimmer, and his numerous portraits and medals (see also his coin with the effigy of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, and the medal 'Prisoner of Conscience').

Sources
Ian Rank-Broadley website 
Armed Forces Memorial 
Les Shutterchance 

Nisus and Euryalus

To remain on the spirit of gay love, I suggest for today's sculpture Nisus and Euryalus, the beautiful work from Jean-Baptiste Roman, French sculptor born 3 years after the French Revolution.

photo by Juanda Contreras.

Nisus and Euryalus were two soldiers from Troy, and their love and frienship was so deep that they were ready to die for each other if needed. Nisus was older than Euryalus.

Sculpture detail - the lovers' hands

Sculpture detail - 3 feet

As Virgil wrote in his "Eneide' (that I had to translate years ago!) they were though warriors, serving under Enee. They are a typical example of the Greek lovers from that time, ie a teenager and a young man, whom many served in the famous Theban army. And would fight with more power than a lover to protect his lover ?

The sacred band of Thebes was a group of selected elite soldiers, made of 150 couples of male lovers. They won many battles during almost 30 years, like the famous one of Leuctra, between 378 BC and 338 BC.

Nisus and Euryalus left their home to follow Enee in Italy. One evening, as Enee was not there, Nisus who was guarding the soldiers camp thought he could go inside the Rutules enemy territory to capture their chief. Euryalus approved the project, but did not want Nisus to go alone. He asked someone to take care of his mother, and they left together.

Departure of Nisus and Euryalus, by the French painter Girodet

After having killed several sleeping Rutules soldiers, they met a Roman soldiers group led by Volcens. Nisus succeeded to escape, but Euryalus was captured, and would soon be killed. So seeing this from a distance, Nisus came back and asked to be killed instead of the young Euryalus. But Euryalus throat was cut, Nisus killed Volcens to revenge for it, before to be killed himself as he was embracing Euryalus.
This is the summary of Virgil story in the 9th book of Eneide.

Nisus and Euryalus by the French sculptor Jean Baptiste Roman -1827 - Louvre Museum - Paris

Sculpture detail- photo by Olivier Daaram Noolant

The sculptor Jean-Baptiste Roman is born, and died, in Paris (1792-1835). Several of his marble sculptures are displayed in the Louvre museum, usually around mythology or historic figures.
He won two 'Prix de Rome', had sculptures commissioned by the king Louis-Philippe the first.
He also sculpted contemporary portraits like the bust of the French painter Girodet.
Jean-Baptiste Roman received the Legion d'Honneur in 1827.

Sources: Wikipedia, Louvre Museum.