Lot Essay
Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905), the remarkable Victorian thespian, was renowned during his lifetime as the greatest actor in England. It was through his outstanding efforts that the Lyceum Theatre became nationally acclaimed for its dramatic acting and plays.
The play The Bells was adapted by Leopold Lewis from a French play, entitled Le Juif Polonais by M.M. Erckmann-Chatrian. It told of the destruction of a murderer by his own conscience. The subject greatly appealed to Irving, who bought the rights from Lewis, and together they reworked the principal character Mathias, a guilt-ridden Swiss Burgomaster, to suit Irving. It was first produced at the Lyceum in 1871, the first of many hundred dramatic performances Irving would give as Mathias, and the first of as many resounding successes.
Edward Onslow Ford's statuette skilfully captures Irving as Mathias in his conscience striken state, his head alert as he hears the ghostly bells of his victim's sleigh and his left hand holding the bag of gold for which he murdered the rich Jew. Irving was presented with Ford's sculpture on 26 November 1892, and as the incription testifies, to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Irving's first appearance in The Bells. This sculpture was in clay; it was subsequently cast in bronze, and the present bronze appears to be the only cast that was made.
Edward Onslow Ford's association with Henry Irving had begun two years previously with his renowned portrayal of Henry Irving as Hamlet, and subsequently in 1891 when Irving unveiled Ford's Memorial to Marlowe in Canterbury. Ford had seen Irving acting and wished to capture a characteristic attitude. He made life sketches and a clay model with which he persuaded Irving to sit for the marble; the marble is now in the Guildhall Art Gallery, given by Irving. Ford was able to create a work with new emphasis on mass and light, and as Spielmann remarked: "The statue is realistic, romantic, picturesque; it was certainly original; and this, with the excellence of the likeness and the flesh-and-blood vitality of the figure as a whole, delighted the public, and proclaimed that Mr. Onslow Ford had achieved his first striking success." (op. cit., p. 51). These are the same qualities with which Ford imbued the present figure, though Mathias displays a less regal, but more nervous and fragile attitude appropriate to his character.
Finally, the present bronze is not only a rare work of the contemporary 'New Sculpture' and of a contemporary subject, but also an interesting example of the rediscovered 'lost-wax' technique. Ford was able to learn this technique from Gilbert's own Italian experience. On his return from Italy, Gilbert took up a studio adjacent to that of Ford's, and Ford and Stirling Lee assisted Gilbert in his experiments with lost-wax casting. As is visible in the present bronze, this method allowed a much greater crispness of detail and faithfulness to even the gentlest of surface modulations.
The play The Bells was adapted by Leopold Lewis from a French play, entitled Le Juif Polonais by M.M. Erckmann-Chatrian. It told of the destruction of a murderer by his own conscience. The subject greatly appealed to Irving, who bought the rights from Lewis, and together they reworked the principal character Mathias, a guilt-ridden Swiss Burgomaster, to suit Irving. It was first produced at the Lyceum in 1871, the first of many hundred dramatic performances Irving would give as Mathias, and the first of as many resounding successes.
Edward Onslow Ford's statuette skilfully captures Irving as Mathias in his conscience striken state, his head alert as he hears the ghostly bells of his victim's sleigh and his left hand holding the bag of gold for which he murdered the rich Jew. Irving was presented with Ford's sculpture on 26 November 1892, and as the incription testifies, to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Irving's first appearance in The Bells. This sculpture was in clay; it was subsequently cast in bronze, and the present bronze appears to be the only cast that was made.
Edward Onslow Ford's association with Henry Irving had begun two years previously with his renowned portrayal of Henry Irving as Hamlet, and subsequently in 1891 when Irving unveiled Ford's Memorial to Marlowe in Canterbury. Ford had seen Irving acting and wished to capture a characteristic attitude. He made life sketches and a clay model with which he persuaded Irving to sit for the marble; the marble is now in the Guildhall Art Gallery, given by Irving. Ford was able to create a work with new emphasis on mass and light, and as Spielmann remarked: "The statue is realistic, romantic, picturesque; it was certainly original; and this, with the excellence of the likeness and the flesh-and-blood vitality of the figure as a whole, delighted the public, and proclaimed that Mr. Onslow Ford had achieved his first striking success." (op. cit., p. 51). These are the same qualities with which Ford imbued the present figure, though Mathias displays a less regal, but more nervous and fragile attitude appropriate to his character.
Finally, the present bronze is not only a rare work of the contemporary 'New Sculpture' and of a contemporary subject, but also an interesting example of the rediscovered 'lost-wax' technique. Ford was able to learn this technique from Gilbert's own Italian experience. On his return from Italy, Gilbert took up a studio adjacent to that of Ford's, and Ford and Stirling Lee assisted Gilbert in his experiments with lost-wax casting. As is visible in the present bronze, this method allowed a much greater crispness of detail and faithfulness to even the gentlest of surface modulations.