AN ICONIC sculpture has returned to a Yorkshire stately house after being restored by conservation experts.

Sir Jacob Epstein’s Adam was transported from Harewood House, near Leeds, to the Royal Academy of Arts in London in November.

A Harewood House spokesman said moving the sculpture had been “a considerable feat of engineering”, requiring an A-frame, winch and trackway, as well as scaffolding and cranes.

The sculpture, which was carved from a single piece of Derbyshire alabaster in 1939, will be part of an exhibition, Finding Adam, which opens next Friday.

The exhibition explores the monumental figure’s epic journey from sideshows to Louis Tussaud’s warehouse in Blackpool, to the Edinburgh International Festival, before arriving at its present home, Harewood House.

The exhibition will also include drawings and bronzes by Sir Jacob and works by his contemporaries, such as Eric Gill.

For details about the exhibition, visit harewood.org or phone 0113 218 1054.