I introduced the work of Marcus Hinton in a previous post and here is the first one dedicated to one of the other major miniatures sculptors of the 1960s, 70 and 80s; Charles Stadden. There are many articles on the web and in books about this celebrated maker. His figures came to my attention in the Norman Newton shop in Piccadilly in the late 1960’s where there were cases of them, finely if distinctly painted and very highly priced, and even more primed, animated unpainted figures, still expensive but not unduly so. At that time, I was drawn more to the few ancients that he’d sculpted than the many Napoleonic’s and ones from other eras. The shop could also, for a price, be commissioned to adapt any figure or group to your requirement and I still have one such vignette that I commissioned just before going abroad and which was still waiting for me some years later when I briefly returned.

Here are more images

I found each of these figures within a short period about fifteen years ago and haven’t seen any since, they’re all Stadden, even the casualty in the pannier, but not being an expert I can’t say if they were commissioned or sold as is. The panniers are made of soldered tin sheet. I don’t know if the umbrella on the second figure was added by a collector. They are spectacular examples of Stadden’s work.

As always click on any image to get a closer look and if anyone has information about these figures, or any other examples, I would love to discuss. The next post will show part one of the work of Sanquez of Madrid; the parade of Charles V.