Collections Online

Dear Annemarie,

NMW A 145 was given to the museum by the sculptor Sir William Goscombe John (1860-1952), long a member of the Art Committee of the National Museum of Wales, who gave most of our major collection Victorian and Edwardian sculpture. John owned several works by his contemporaries and knew Gilbert well. He could have obtained the plaster direct from Gilbert, or after the latter’s death: in 1938 he purchased the large cast of Gilbert’s ‘Icarus’ for the museum.

NMW A 118 belonged to the collector Gwendoline Davies (1882-1951) who, together with her sister Margaret assembled the celebrated Davies collection. NMW A 118 was initially overlooked when Gwendoline Davies’s collection was bequeathed, and was subsequently delivered in 1954. Its earlier provenance is unknown.

I hope this information is helpful in your research.
Kind regards,
Anne Pritchard
Senior Curator, Historic Art

Hello. I was wondering if you could help me in relation to the provenance of your two examples of Comedy and Tragedy by Gilbert? I am an MA student researching the collection of George McCulloch. Most of his works were sold at Christies auction in 1913. McCulloch owned a Comedy and Tragedy in his collection which was bought by the Fine Art Society. Do you have any more information about your two examples?

Kind regards

Annemarie Hay