The artist Richard Cockle Lucas (1800-1883) is an intriguing creative figure who fell into obscurity despite his own extraordinary efforts to build a place in the historical memory. As well as producing skilled sculptural works in wax, ivory, and stone, Lucas's multidisciplinary approach combined print-making, stained glass, photography, performance, building, archaeology, collecting, and writing. Lucas has often been described as a 'forger' because of the art-world controversy in which his name was linked to the wax bust of Flora acquired as a work of Leonardo da Vinci for the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin in 1909.
 

Dr Harry Willis Fleming's work on Lucas has been awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, to develop his forthcoming book, Richard Cockle Lucas: The Artist in the Tower.
 

In 2020, Harry created the Lucas Lower Study research installation, inspired by a painting by Lucas, for a forthcoming TV documentary for the European channels ARTE and ZDF.
 

In 2017, Harry completed his doctoral thesis on Lucas, for which he had received a funded PhD Research Studentship at Middlesex University.
 

Harry received a Henry Moore Institute Research Fellowship in 2012, and curated an archival display at the HMI Library in 2017-18.
 

Harry has given papers on Lucas at Sir John Soane's Museum, the Middle East Technical University, the Henry Moore Institute, and King's College London.
 

The Project also curates an important original archive of the artist, and maintains a database of Lucas's works.
 

Please do get in touch if you have any enquries, information, or material relating to Lucas.