Hamo Thornycroft and Edmund Gosse were lifelong friends, and throughout his life Gosse indefatiguably supported the sculptor. In fact, in his first article on the contemporary sculpture in the Art Journal of 1894, Gosse not only coined the 'New Sculpture' title for the movement, but cited three of Hamo's works as examples. The present portrait medallion dates from one decade earlier, the model was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882, and one example is in the Birmingham City Art Gallery. This is a crisp lost-wax casting, revealing to advantage the delicacy of the portrait.