Sculpture of soldier which was created on front line to go under the hammer

A sculpture created by a Scottish soldier during active service in the First World War is to be sold at auction during Remembrance week.

Bronze statue The Gunner was originally modelled in clay by artilleryman Alexander Carrick while he was on active service in 1917.

Gunner Carrick, from Musselburgh, West Lothian, operated eight-inch howitzers while serving with the 30th (Siege) Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, on the Western Front.

The sculpture shows a man handling a shell for one of the weapons. The clay model was sent back to Scotland to be case in bronze.

The son of a blacksmith, Mr Carrick trained at the Edinburgh College of Art and was an apprentice to the sculptor William Birnie Rhind, a renowned sculptor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Gunner was first exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1918 while Mr Carrick was still serving in Belgium and later shown in Glasgow, Aberdeen and London’s Royal Academy in 1922.

Only two other examples of the work are known to exist: one is retained by the artist’s descendants, another was sold at Sotheby’s auctioneers in 1994.

The sculpture will be offered in Olympia Auctions European Works of Art, Objects & Silver sale on November 19, with an estimate of £1,500-£2,500.

Olympia Auctions specialist Matthew Barton, said: “I feel honoured to present this powerful bronze of The Gunner by the Scottish sculptor Alexander Carrick.

“It is the season of remembrance and this figure is an emotive testament to the artist’s personal experience of the First World War.

“The maquette was first modelled by Carrick in Belgian clay, when he was an artilleryman himself and serving at the front, in support of the Ypres Salient.

“The figure was then sent home for casting in bronze, to be exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1918, all whilst Carrick was still fighting in the war in Belgium.”

Mr Carrick died in 1966 aged 83.