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Lot 121

Sir Alfred Gilbert M.V.O., R.A., English (1854-1934)
A bronze figure of Perseus Arming

Sculpture
15 April 2008, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £12,000 inc. premium

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Sir Alfred Gilbert M.V.O., R.A., English (1854-1934)
A bronze figure of Perseus Arming

on a circular moulded base, dark brown patination, raised on turned ebonised circular plinth base, 39cm high (15" high)

Footnotes

Sir Alfred Gilbert was a key contributor to the New Sculpture movement that invigorated British sculpture at the end of the nineteenth century. Perseus Arming was a work produced early in his career when he was still heavily influenced by the great Florentine masters he had studied. Indeed this Donatello sized statuette appeared quite original to those who were used to the prevailing French style of the day when it was later shown at the Paris Salon of 1883. Of this moment in his life Gilbert was later to say that he was 'tired of the French influence'.

Modelled just after his return from Florence in the winter of 1880, Gilbert, new to his profession, could not afford to have the uncommissioned model cast in bronze. It was not until a year later in 1881 that the potter Sir Henry Doulton (1820-97) on his way back from Rome met with Gilbert and commissioned him to cast the bronze from his clay model. Unfortunately this first casting of the Perseus has not been traced. This is probably because if would not stand out as being superior to other replicas made from the same plaster pattern; it was modelled in clay and cast to form a plaster pattern from which a mould was made to produce a number of waxes. This would mean that the first and all subsequent casts were good but did not have the 'finger print' quality of a direct cast.

Scholars have interpreted the bronze as a kind of self portrait, the adolescent Perseus checks his winged sandals, a metaphor for the artist and his own youthful engagement with his artistic equipment. Perseus is poised in action, not unlike the young artist enjoying his first commissions, on the brink of action and ready to exploit his own talents.

Related literature: Richard Dorment, Alfred Gilbert, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1986.

Additional information

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