Download Image
Terms and conditions of use
Icarus
(c. 1889)
Medium
bronze
Measurements
52.5 × 24.3 × 18.1 cm (overall)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1935
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Alfred Gilbert took up sculpture at the age of twenty-five while on a visit to Italy. Even at that young age he decided to invest his sculpture with an autobiographical element, charting his development as an artist. The story of the impetuous young Icarus – who failed in his quest to fly with wax-lined wings – suited Gilbert’s self- confident personality. As he told the journalist Isabel McAllister: ‘It flashed across me that I was very ambitious; why not “Icarus” with his desire for flight’. Gilbert did go on to become the most famous British sculptor of the late nineteenth century, creating works such as Eros in Piccadilly Circus, London.
Artwork Details
Accession Number
3607-D3
Department
International Sculpture
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited