Towneley from A to Z
Towneley from A to Z
Born in London, Alfred Gilbert was the eldest son of a professional musician. Famous for Eros in Piccadilly Circus, London, Gilbert had started the Clarence Tomb at Windsor Castle, in 1892 but left the country without finishing the work , following to a disagreement with the Royal Family. Matters got much worse for Gilbert as he was continuing to take money for private commissions he was incapable of completing. By 1906, there were many calls for his expulsion from the Royal Academy and he resigned in 1908. After 1908, Gilbert faded from the public gazed and remained in Bruges throughout the Great War. After the war, he was offered no work on war memorials and was living in considerable poverty.
There are two bronze busts by him in the Sculpture collection, The Chatelaine and the Virtuoso. They were commissioned by the Towneley sub-committee in 1925 in remembrance of Lady O'Hagan and Edward Stocks Massey. The commission was arranged by Walter Gilbert.
The busts were delivered in November 1926 and were rejected by the sub-committee. Maurice O'Hagan was astounded by the "complete and utter want of resemblance" of the bust to his mother. The busts were finally purchased from Walter Gilbert in 1927. Letters between Walter Gilbert and the sub-committee relating to the commission have survived.
The Towneley sub-committee having completed the Stocks Massey watercolour gallery in 1923, wanted a bust of Edward Stocks Massey for the gallery and also decided on a memorial bust of Lady O'Hagan, who had died in December 1921. Walter Gilbert was clearly a very good salesman because he persuaded the sub-committee to give the work to Alfred Gilbert at a price of £250 for each bust.
Alfred Gilbert had returned to Rome in March 1925 and in April the sub-committee offered him the commission. He spent 15 months in Rome and these two busts were the only work he did during that time. Walter Gilbert made sure the commission was completed.
The busts were delivered in November 1926 and were rejected by the sub-committee. Maurice O'Hagan was astounded by the "complete and utter want of resemblance" of the bust to his mother. Walter Gilbert acquired the busts and undertook to provide two more busts in a more realistic style. The Walter Gilbert bust of Edward Stocks Massey was delivered in December 1927 and that of Lady O'Hagan in May 1929. Alfred Gilbert was never told of the rejection of his work.
In November 1927, Walter Gilbert had written to Frank Walmesley "I would remind [the committee] that Mr Alfred Gilbert is the greatest poetic sculptor of his time - many artist think of any time. In February 1927, the Towneley sub-committee decided to accept the two Alfred Gilbert busts and paid the final part of the money to Walter Gilbert.
After overseeing the casting of the two busts in Rome, Alfred returned to England in July 1926 in the hope of finishing the Clarence memorial and applying for a commission for a memorial to Queen Alexandra who died in November 1925. In September, he was advanced money to complete the Clarence tomb and in December 1926 his rehabilitation became complete when he was awarded a gold medal from the Royal Society of British Sculptors. The memorial for Queen Alexandra was unveiled on 8th June 1932 and the next day Alfred was knighted.
Exhibition catalogues at Towneley in the 1930s suggest the work still did not meet with approval. Their first mention was in 1930 in the Art Gallery as "Two Bronze Bust by Alfred Gilbert, M.V.O., R.A." Next year they were moved to the Edward Stocks Massey Gallery. Only in 1936 were they labelled as The Chatelaine and the Virtuoso by "Sir Alfred Gilbert, M.V.O.".