Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice older book in good condition. Pages in excellent condition. Dustcover tattered book itself is great. Copy 13 of 300. Signed. Year 1952. Hardcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> Even in the heyday of his life he would not be interviewed and was reticent in discussing his works. When engaged on royal memorials there was every reason for his discretion. Gilbert’s re- fusal however to explain his attitude in certain circumstances exhausted the patience of patrons and tended to play into the hands of persons particularly would-be rivals ill-disposed to him though I am inclined to think that he sometimes imagined hos- tility where none existed. The most comprehensive essay on Alfred Gilbert appeared in the Easter number of the Art Journal for 1903. It was written by his friend Joseph Hatton author and journalist and is a highly intelligent eulogium. Hatton knowing Gilbert intimately was al- lowed to write a conversational impression of the sculptor and the story he tells of important works notably the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain and the troubles it incurred is authentic. Among estab- lished writers on art M. H. Spielmann was the most devoted exponent of Gilbert’s genius and ideals; and the article in his book British Sculpture and Sculptors of Today (1901) is as erudite as it is generous. W. Cosmo Monkhouse wrote two articles in the Maga- zine of Art 1889 pp. 1-4 and 37-40. (SP)