“Nina Cust” by Sir Alfred Gilbert

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Nina Cust

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

1884

Plaster

Height: with base 30 1/2 inches

The Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd

Exhibited: A.A., 1884; RA 1900

According to Dorment, Burne-Jones had long influenced Gilbert's approach to the human figure, but this bust shows the sculptor first using the painter's portrait style with its "tilted head, downcast eyes, and pensive mood," all of which appear in Burne-Jones's 1893 portrait of Lady Windsor.

Commentary from Richard Dorment’s Victorian High Renaissance

Emmeline (Nina) Cust (1867 I955), translator, poet, and sculptor, was the daughter of Sir William Welby-Gregory fourth Baronet, of Denton Manor, Grantham. In 1893 she married Henry Cust (1861-1917), Unionist M.P. for the Stamford division of Lincolnshire (1890-5) and Bermondsey (1900-6) as well as editor of the Pall Mall Gazette in the 1890s. Through her marriage, she became a member of the 'Souls,' the exclusive circle of young men and women, all prominent in public and social life, who formed the artistic avant-garde in English society in the 1880S and 90s. The Souls' combination of high style and intense seriousness led them to adopt Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98) as their chosen artist, and many families who were considered members of the group -- the Balfours, Gaskells, Horners, and Lyttletons -- were his patrons and friends. [171-72.]

Bibliography

British Sculpture 1850-1914. A loan exhibition of sculpture and medals sponsored by The Victorian Society. London: Fine Art Society, 1968. no. 80.

Dorment, Richard. Victorian High Renaissance. Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1978. No. 89.

Created 1999

Last modified 5 February 2020