Victory

Details

SIR ALFRED GILBERT, M.V.O., R.A. (1854-1934)
Victory
unsigned
bronze, mid-brown patina, on stepped octagonal black marble plinth
the bronze: 12¼ in. (31 cm.) high

Literature

R. Dorment, Alfred Gilbert, Sculptor and Goldsmith, London, Royal Academy, exh. cat., 1986, pp. 126-9.
R. Dorment, Alfred Gilbert, New Haven and London, 1985, pp. 180-3 and pl. 39 (another cast).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The first cast of Gilbert's Victory surmounted the orb in Queen Victoria's hand on the sculptor's 1887 Golden Jubilee monument to her at Winchester. In a letter of 1 January 1911 Gilbert wrote, 'Its apparent joyousness is due to the fact that it was conceived and executed during the very few hours of happiness I have ever known.' A slightly different version of the work was presented by Gilbert to the Royal Academy in 1909 as a long-overdue deposit for his diploma work after he was elected full Academician in 1892.

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