Lieutenant Shackleton. Arctic [sic] explorer. 1908. Nearest to the South Pole.

£2,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A disarmingly glamorous photographic portrait of Sir Ernest Shackleton, in his Antarctic sledge-hauling gear, posed with his clean-shaven face and neatly coiffed hair uncovered, seemingly unbothered by his snow swept surroundings. It is signed boldly in ink to the verso, by the man himself. The strangeness of this photograph is explained by the fact that it actually depicts a waxwork of the great explorer, unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s museum in 1909. This from a contemporary newspaper account: “The new tableau, which Mr. John Tussaud has just produced for his holiday visitors […] offers a faithful rendering of the scene at which Lieut. Ernest H. Shackleton, and his three companions, Lieut. J.B. Adams, R.N.R., Dr. Eric Marshall, and Mr. Frank Wild, stood when they reached the full extent of their wonderful journey on January 9, and planted the British flag within 111 miles of the South Pole. The picture shows a narrow, grey, and dismal outlook blurred by a ceaseless blizzard driven before a strong wind blowing from the direction of the South Pole. […] Standing in the foreground of the scene is the attractive model of the leader of the expedition in a characteristic attitude indicating strength and determination. The figure is clothes in a costume, the exact copy of the one worn by him throughout this expedition. Although the figure should be wearing a head-covering, known as the “helmet,” enclosing all by the centre of the face, this has been allowed for artistic purposes to f

• Binding: Hardcover

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