The Kiss of Victory
Sir Alfred Gilbert, R. A. (1854-1934)
Bronze, rich dark brown/black and red/brown patination
Height: 24 inches (6lcm)
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[See commentary below]
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Commentary by Robert Bowman
In 1878, Gilbert finished the model for his first piece to be sent for exhibition at the Royal Academy, a tribute to his beloved brother Gordon who had died of consumption at the age of twenty-one. The piece was entitled The Kiss of Victory. Gilbert first came across the concept of the group in Gustave Doré's Gloire , exhibited at the Paris Salon of August 1878 and he must have been familiar with the very successful group of Gloria Victis by Antonin Mercie, also exhibited in Paris in 1878. Gilbert's work is far more sensuous than either of his contemporaries, the impression is that the soldier is not dead but has merely fainted back into the arms of the goddess of victory.
The Kiss of Victory was commissioned by an English patron, Somerset Beaumont, who was to remain one of Gilbert's most loyal friends and patrons. Gilbert went to Rome to carve the work in marble. It took him two years to produce the final version, which stands 58 inches high and is now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arcs, purchased by the John R. Van Derlip Fund.
This bronze is a casting of Gilbert's model for the finished sculpture, although it may be a casting of a ricordo as opposed to a preliminary sketch. The reason for this uncertainty is that, as researched” by Richard Dorment in his monograph on Gilbert, that accompanied the Exhibition at the Royal Academy, Gilbert altered his final work considerably from the original concept and this model seems to closely conform to the final image.
The simplicity of modelling is reminiscent of the modelling of Frederick Leighton's Sluggard, having a simplicity and rawness in the modelling. The heavy build of the wounded warrior is because Gilbert used himself as the basis for the model, hence the wide body and relatively short arms. Although he continued to use his sculpture to reflect his own personality and neurosis, in such works as Comedy and Tragedy, this was the last time he used his physical likeness.
Bibliography
Bowman, Robert. Craft and Creation — 2005. London: Robert Bowman Gallery, 2005, pp. 70-71.
Dorment, Richard. Victorian High Renaissance. Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1978. No. 90.
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Last modified 9 June 2008