Sir Alfred Gilbert RA

Sir Alfred Gilbert RA, MVO, DCL (1854-1934) a rare dark bronze patinated circular portrait medallion of Matthew Ridley Corbet ARA, his bearded head to left wearing an open shirt, in octagonal wood frame, indistinct signature and date 1881 bronze 10.5cm. diam. Literature Richard Dorment Alfred Gilbert, Yale page 37 plate 15 Richard Dorment Alfred Gilbert Royal Academy of Arts 1986 catalogue, catalogue number 38 page 132. this medallion was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886. Philip Attwood Artistic Circles, The Medal in Britain 1880-1918, page 8 for a reference to this medallion. Mark Jones The Art of the Medal, London 1977, page 138 illustration no.373. This medalic portrait is one of the first sculptural pieces by Alfred Gilbert. The landscape painter Matthew Ridley Corbet (1850-1902), had moved to Rome in 1880 to be a pupil of Giovanni Costa and by January 1881 had a studio 'just above Gilbert's studio'. The plaster for this medal is now in the British Museum. Two examples of this bronze are known, this and a second in the collection of the Musee d'Orsay, Paris.