Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 21a, The Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries

The Age of Innocence

Bust
1897 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The model for this bust was Gracie Doncaster, the daughter of one of Drury's friends. The bust itself is considered by Benedict Read to be one of the 'major icons' of the late 19th century English movement known as the 'New Sculpture'.

The signature and date are incised into the surface of the plaster after casting had taken place, suggesting that it was produced in 1897, probably from an original clay or terracotta bust now lost. The bust is likely to have been the sculptor's plaster model, probably used in the production of subsequent closely related versions: it is known to have been reproduced in marble and bronze. Versions have appeared in numerous sales. Bronze versions are also held in the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, the Manchester City Art Gallery and the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, although this version is significantly larger than most of the other known versions in bronze. Later reworked examples in marble are in the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, and in the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery; a further version was formerly in the Luxembourg Museum, Paris.

A bronze was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1897, and it has been suggested that this was the version sold by Phillips on 23 September 1997 (signed and dated 1896). The date of that bronze, a year earlier than the date on this piece, would suggest that Drury had to make another model.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Age of Innocence (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Plaster
Brief description
Bust, plaster cast, 'The Age of Innocence', by Alfred Drury, British, 1897
Dimensions
  • Height: 67.7cm
Gallery label
Alfred Drury (1856–1944) Model for The Age of Innocence Signed and dated 1897 This bust became an icon of the so-called New Sculpture movement in Britain. It combines naturalism with echoes of 15th-century Italian art in the girl’s Renaissance-style dress. Drury used the daughter of one of his friends, Gracie Doncaster, as the model for the plaster. He went on to make many other versions in both bronze and marble. England Plaster(2021)
Credit line
Given by Mrs Joy Way
Object history
According to the donor the bust was given to her mother in the late 1930s by the sculptor, who lived opposite the family in Wimbledon when the donor was a child. Given by Mrs Joy Way, 'Wasp Well', Outwood, Redhill, Surrey, in 2000.
Subject depicted
Literary referenceThe Age of Innocence
Summary
The model for this bust was Gracie Doncaster, the daughter of one of Drury's friends. The bust itself is considered by Benedict Read to be one of the 'major icons' of the late 19th century English movement known as the 'New Sculpture'.

The signature and date are incised into the surface of the plaster after casting had taken place, suggesting that it was produced in 1897, probably from an original clay or terracotta bust now lost. The bust is likely to have been the sculptor's plaster model, probably used in the production of subsequent closely related versions: it is known to have been reproduced in marble and bronze. Versions have appeared in numerous sales. Bronze versions are also held in the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, the Manchester City Art Gallery and the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, although this version is significantly larger than most of the other known versions in bronze. Later reworked examples in marble are in the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, and in the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery; a further version was formerly in the Luxembourg Museum, Paris.

A bronze was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1897, and it has been suggested that this was the version sold by Phillips on 23 September 1997 (signed and dated 1896). The date of that bronze, a year earlier than the date on this piece, would suggest that Drury had to make another model.
Bibliographic references
  • Bilbey, Diane with Trusted, Marjorie,British Sculpture 1470 to 2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2002, pp. 254-5, cat. no. 386
  • Sir Alfred Gilbert & The New Sculpture: British Sculpture 1850-1930. London: The Fine Art Society, 2008, p. 20
  • Cooper, Jeremy, 19th Century Romantic Bronzes, London: David and Charles, 1975, pp. 88-89
  • Spielmann, M.H., British Sculpture and Sculptors of Today, London: Cassell and Company Ltd, 1901, pp. 109-114
  • Beattie, Susan, The New Sculpture, New Haven and London: Yale, 1983, pp. 107-21, 167-74, 242, 260
  • Baldry, A.L., 'The Art Movement: Decorative Sculpture by Mr Alfred Drury'. in: Magazine of Art, 1898, pp. 442-5
  • Thomas, Ben, 'The child is father of the man: Alfred Drury and temporality', in: Sculpture Journal, Volume 24.1 [2015], pp. 55-72, ill. 56
Collection
Accession number
A.31-2000

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Record createdNovember 21, 2000
Record URL
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