Lot 121
SIR ALFRED GILBERT R.A. (1854-1934)
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY: ‘SIC VITA’
Auction: 10 October 2018 at 11:00 BST
Description
bronze, raised on a stepped ebonised wood plinth
34cm high (bronze), 39cm high (with plinth)
Footnote
Provenance: The Fine Art Society, London
Note: New English Sculpture was a dynamic movement at the end of the 19th century which injected energy and naturalism into English sculpture. The medium had been dominated by a neo-classical style seen as rigid and irrelevant to human experience, so much so that Baudelaire even wrote a critique of the Paris Salon in 1846 titled ‘Why Sculpture is Boring’. The term ‘New English Sculpture’ was coined in Edmund Gosse’s article ‘The New Sculpture’ which was published by Art Journal in 1894, where he defined the movement as ‘a close and reverent observation of nature’. Leading sculptors such as Lord Leighton, Alfred Gilbert and Hamo Thornycroft revived the Italian Renaissance art of ‘lost wax’ bronze casting in order to finely render surface details like musculature and facial expressions in a more naturalistic manner. This approach was introduced by Aimé-Jules Dalou, who disseminated the French method of direct modelling during the period he spent teaching at South Kensington School of Art from 1877 to 1880. This combination of traditional and modern continental influences prompted these artists to recast well-worn classical myths in a distinctly original and relatable style. The movement re-established the relevance of sculpture within society by embracing the statuette, which bridged the divide between high art and decorative art without compromising on the standard of craftsmanship. Until the 1860s sculpture was primarily limited to the marble portrait bust or large classical figure, but these smaller bronze casts created a new sculptural category which suited the scale and price desired by homeowners. The cult of the statuette was a popular feature in late Victorian and Edwardian architectural design and enabled the classical heroic figure to fulfil a new decorative role within a domestic setting.