Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Sir Alfred Gilbert RA (London 1854 – London 1934)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1891
Materials
Plaster, paint
Measurements
670 x 330 x 300 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Fenton House, London
NT 1449203
Summary
Plaster portrait bust of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) by Sir Alfred Gilbert (1854-1934) modelled 1891. The sitter faces forward with his eyes turned to his left. Painted to imitate bronze, mounted on square plaster socle.
Full description
Ignacy Jan Paderewski was a celebrated Polish pianist and composer; he toured extensively around the world and made his British debut at St James’s Hall in London on May 2nd 1890. Padereski was also a politician and diplomat, and in January 1919 he was appointed the first Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland. This bust of Paderewski by Alfred Gilbert depicts the musician at the height of his fame. Paderewski regularly travelled to London and was friends with many musicians and artists. In her biography of Alfred Gilbert, Isabel McAllister notes that Gilbert visited Alma Tadema’s house where Paderewski was a frequent visitor ‘whose wonderful music added to the charm of his personality’. (McAllister, Alfred Gilbert, 1929, p.165) Gilbert was brought up in a musical family; his mother and father, Charlotte Cole and Alfred Gilbert, were both musicians. According to Francis Gilbert, Alfred’s son, this bust of Paderewski was modelled in one sitting on 13 July 1891 at the request of Gilbert’s mother. Francis remembered that it was ‘a two hour study made of Paderewski while playing the piano to father in his upper studio… Father never gave any serious thought to this unfinished work and thus it became grandfather’s and grandmother’s property at no. 14 Maida Vale.’ The almost painterly quality of the unfinished bust lends it an immediacy that reflects the short amount of time Gilbert spent modelling it. That he didn’t immediately cast it in bronze suggests that Gilbert saw it as a study, however he did allow for a reduction in bronze to made for Lady Lewis, Paderewski’s patron in the 1890s (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery). The plaster bust remained in the ownership of Gilbert’s mother until her death in 1909, at which point her effects were placed in storage. Gilbert took possession of the bust again in 1930, and in 1934, the wife of Gilbert’s physician, Mrs Hadley, bought the plaster and had it cast in bronze. She then arranged for the bronze to be exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year (no. 1595) and sold it, giving the proceeds to a testimonial fund for Alfred Gilbert. The bust was bought for the Chantrey Bequest and is now in the Tate collection, N04755. The original gilt plaster bust owned by Gilbert’s mother is now in the collection of Manchester City Art Gallery (1936.369); the version at Fenton House is previously unpublished. Anna Moore (Nov 2017)
Credit line
National Trust Collections (Fenton House)
Makers and roles
Sir Alfred Gilbert RA (London 1854 – London 1934), sculptor
References
Dorment 1985: Richard Dorment, Alfred Gilbert, New Haven and London 1985, pp. 128-9 McAllister, Isabel G. Alfred Gilbert / 1929, p.165 Bury 1954: Adrian Bury, Shadow of Eros :A biographical and critical study of the life and works of Sir Alfred Gilbert, London 1954, pp. 55, 87