Millbank SW1

Enzo Plazzotta based his statue Jete on David Wall, famous as creator of the role of Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling, the youngest ever Siegfried in Swan Lake and as frequent partner to Margot Fonteyn. He was also the youngest ever Principal Dancer at the Royal Ballet.
The statue was created in 1975 when Wall was only 29 and is a typical subject for Plazzotta, who also created images of Fonteyn, Nadia Nerina, and Antony Dowell.
Plazzotta was born near Venice and studied in Milan until the outbreak of war, when he became a partisan leader around Lake Maggiore. When peace came, he was commissioned by the Italian Committee of Liberation to make a pair of statuettes for presentation to the British Special Forces to commemorate their successful partnership. He came to London to present them personally, liked the place and stayed.
His commitment to classicism brought him derision from the modernist art establishment in the swinging sixties, naturally, especially his fascination with freezing fast moving subjects in bronze. He had the last laugh, however, discovering a lucrative market modelling racehorses for rich owners.