Head of a Capri Fisherman

Sir Alfred Gilbert, R. A. (1854-1934)

1884

Bronze on marble base

Height. 14 inches (37 cm) plus base 3 inches (8.3 cm)

First exhibited at.the RA in 1884 along with Icarus. After praising Icarus the critic of The Illustrated London News (10 May) added: "But still more extraordinary is The Study of a Head, with its thousand wrinkles and markings of age. It is difficult to believe this is not cast from life; nothing closer to nature have we seen — nothing so wonderful in its way."

[Front view of a cast on another base]

Robert Bowman and the Fine Art Society, London, have most generously given their permission to use information, images, and text from Sir Alfred Gilbert and the New Sculpture in the Victorian Web. Copyright on text and images from their catalogues remains, of course, with them. [GPL]