Statuette, bronzed spelter, 'The Queen of Dreams', by Lucy Gwendolen Williams, British, 1905-6

Bronzed spelter statuette on circular marble socle. Half length figure of a young woman, wearing a winged headband, drapery swathed around her midriff, looking down at a baby in her arms.

Purchased with the support of the Gilbert Bayes Charitable Trust

Historical significance: Although other women sculptors of the early 20th century are known (see Beattie, p. 196), they are exceptional. Lucy Gwendolen (Gwen) Williams specialised in small-scale, intimate bronzes (or, as here, bronzed spelter). In 1906 Williams exhibited this figure (or one similar) at the Walker Art Gallery's Autumn Exhibition entitled Queen of Dreams.

The exact source or nature of its subject is obscure; it shows a half-length young woman wearing a winged headband, and drapery swathed around her waist, looking down at the baby in her arms, in a composition reminiscent of a Virgin and Child group. The piece has a good patina, and is in the tradition of the work of Drury himself, as well as Alfred Gilbert and George Frampton, in its expression of tender human qualities; typically of the New Sculpture, it echoes stylistically the Florentine quattrocento.

This small group is the V&A's first example of a work by this artist and significantly adds to the Sculpture section's holdings of work by British women artists. Moreover, as Williams trained in South Kensington, this sculpture has particular relevance in the collections.

Bought from Ted Few for £4,000 with funds from Departmental & Central funds, and a contribution from Gilbert Bayes Trust.

Lucy Gwendolen Williams (1870-1955; active 1893-1939) was born in Liverpool, and trained under Alfred Drury at the Wimbledon School of Art, and later under Edouard Lanteri at the National Art Training School, South Kensington, later the Royal College of Art. She exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, the Royal Hibernian Academy, The Royal Cambrian Academy, the City Art Gallery, Leeds, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and the Bristol Academy, as well as numerous other British venues. She lived in London, and also studied in Rome and elsewhere in Europe before the First World War.

Attribution note: At least two other versions exist. One is illustrated in Susan Beattie's The New Sculpture (New Haven, 1983), fig. 197, p. 197, and one was sold in Sydney in 2004.

Lucy Gwendolen Williams (1870-1955; active 1893-1939) specialised in small-scale, intimate sculptures, of which this one is typical. In 1906 she exhibited this work (or a similar one) in Liverpool at the Walker Art Gallery's Autumn Exhibition, entitled The Queen of Dreams. It has been suggested that the source for the subject may be literary: the American writer Louisa S. McCord (1810-1879) referred to a 'queen of dreams' in her poem 'The World of Dreams' but the sentiment of poem and sculpture seem to differ.

The sculpture depicts a half-length young woman wearing a winged headband, and drapery swathed around her waist, looking down at the baby in her arms, in a composition reminiscent of a Virgin and Child group. The group is in the tradition of the work of Alfred Drury (under whom Williams trained at the Wimbledon School of Art), as well as Alfred Gilbert and George Frampton, in its expression of tender human qualities; typically of the New Sculpture, it echoes stylistically the Florentine quattrocento.

The material is relatively unusual. Spelter is a zinc alloy, somewhat cheaper and easier to work than bronze; here the artist has given it a finish to make it convincingly resemble bronze.

A.5-2009