Alfred Gilbert

Douglas Illingworth (1881-1949), United Kingdom;

thence to his wife, Mrs Winifred Illingworth;

sold by order of her attourneys, Sotheby's London, 30 April 1993, lot 182;

where acquired by the present owner

private collection, Chelsea

Alfred Gilbert described Comedy and Tragedy as 'the climax to my cycle of stories,' of which Perseus Arming and Icarus were the earlier chapters. This last classical parable forms one of the sculptor's most complex and academic compositions. The pose, reflecting its subject, is wholly artificial, and requires the viewer to continually shift perspectives in order to gain a complete view of the sculpture. Head facing downwards, arms engaged in the opposite direction and with one foot off the ground, it is reminiscent of Mannerist sculpture, in particular Giambologna's Apollo, whilst also giving a nod to Frederic Leighton's 1886 composition, Needless Alarms.

The inspiration for Gilbert's composition lay in the revival of a one-act play at London's Lyceum theatre entitled Comedy and Tragedy, written by his namesake W. S. Gilbert and starring his friend, the American actress Mary Anderson. Night after night the sculptor would view the play. Describing the genesis of his sculpture, Gilbert later wrote, 'I conceived the notion of harking back to the Greek stage upon which masks were always worn, and I conceived a stage property boy rushing away in great glee with his comedy mask, and on the way being stung by a bee... The youth seen from one position through the open mouth of the comic mask exhibits hilarity, but from the opposite side he is seen glancing at his wounded leg, and his expression assumes one of pain and sadness.' It is in this dichotomy, the comedic grin of the actor's mask and the anguish of his real facial expression, that lies the sculpture's biographical subtext. At the time he modelled Comedy and Tragedy, Gilbert led a dual existence, acting the successful artist by night, whilst, by day suffering from severe anxiety caused by massive debts and the emotional strain of caring for an invalid wife. Comedy and Tragedy has consequently come to be regarded as one of Gilbert's most poignant and complex works.

The present bronze (and the succeeding lot) were commissioned as part of a rare and complete cycle of Gilbert's oeuvre between 1911 and 1912. These bronzes were commissioned by the art collector Douglas Illingworth and sold by his wife in these rooms on 30 April 1993.

Gilbert placed a number of his models with the Compagnie des Bronzes foundry in Brussels. The foundry archives record that between 1902 and 1918 the main figures supplied were Perseus Arming (succeeding lot), Comedy and Tragedy (large and small), and An Offering to Hymen (small). Gilbert oversaw the casting and finishing of the figures himself. It is noticeable that the patina is very dark in each of the Illingworth bronzes and may have been specified by the patron himself.

The present group is referred to twice in correspondence between Illingworth and the sculptor, on 12 February 1912, and again on 8 October 1914: 'I have in Brussels the small marble base for 'Comedy and Tragedy' which was packed and ready to send off, when war broke out, be patient'; the base, however, was not received due to the outbreak of war.

Douglas Illingworth was born in Yorkshire in 1881, educated at Eton and fought at Gallipoli. Although his main occupation was as a barrister he enjoyed sketching and painting in watercolour. He moved in artistic circles, being a friend of George Clausen, Alfred Rich and James Pride, as well as the sculptor Ernest Gillick who introduced him both to Alfred Gilbert and David McGill. In 1920 he married the opera singer Winifred Radford and commissioned from his friend Meredith Frampton an exquisite portrait of his young bride holding a birdcage. Winifred was the daughter of the opera singer Robert Radford and she made her operatic début as Barberina in the first ever performance at Glyndebourne in 1934, in The Marriage of Figaro. She was sadly widowed in 1949.

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Dorment, Alfred Gilbert: Sculptor and Goldsmith, ex. cat., Royal Academy, London, 1986, pp. 116-118, nos. 22-24; R. Dorment, Alfred Gilbert, New Haven and London, 1985, pp. 131-134; I. McAllister, Alfred Gilbert, London, 1929, p. 88