Victory Leading St. George, Sketch Model for a Proposed War Memorial: M.19-1972

Titles

Victory Leading St. George, Sketch Model for a Proposed War Memorial

Maker(s)

Sculptor: Gilbert, Alfred

Entities

• Figure group

Categories

• Sculpture

Description

Bronze, cast

Notes

History note: Charles and Lavinia Handley-Read (both died 1971); purchased from Thomas Stainton, the executor of the Handley-Read Estate

Legal notes

Bought with the Perceval fund and grant-in-aid from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1972) by Handley-Read Estate

Dating

20th Century, Early
Circa 1906 - 1914

Note

Sir Alfred Gilbert RA MVO (1854-1934) was an English sculptor. He studied in London, Paris and Rome, returning to England in 1884. Gilbert was the leading artist in the New Sculpture movement, which revitalised sculpture in late nineteenth-century Britain. He was also a vital force in reintroducing the lost-wax technique for casting works of art in bronze in England (sand-casting had been the norm for bronze sculpture since the 18th century, with lost-wax casting used only for small-scale work and jewellery). His commissions included the jubilee memorial to Queen Victoria in Winchester and the statue of Eros, in aluminium, for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in Piccadilly Circus, and in 1900 he was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy. A period of bankruptcy and divorce followed, and Gilbert moved to Bruges. On his return to England in 1926, his fortunes improved, the highlight being the bronze Queen Alexandra Memorial, at Marlborough House, London, 1926-32. He was knighted by George V in 1932. Gilbert died in poverty in 1934.