Lot 61: Edward Onslow Ford , British 1852 - 1901 bust of Sir Henry Irving terracotta on an ebonised wood base

signed and dated: E Onslow Ford 1880 terracotta on an ebonised wood base

measurements note overall: 33cm., 13in.

This deftly modelled portrait of Henry Irving, the great late 19υth century actor-manager, is the earliest known version of the portraits of Irving by Edward Onslow Ford. First performed in 1874, Hamlet became one of Irving's most famous roles. His controversial interpretation of the Shakespearean character was a sensation and the play ran for 200 nights. A laudatory review by the novelist Bram Stoker led to a life long friendship between the two men and it was Stoker who later introduced Ford to Irving. Hamlet was revived in 1878, with Ellen Terry in the role of Ophelia. Ford was very taken with Irving's performance and made sketches of him which he later worked up into a clay model, hoping to persuade the actor to sit for him. Stoker saw the sketch and convinced his friend to sit for a life-size marble portrait, which Irving purchased from Ford and donated to the Guildhall Art Gallery. The piece helped to make Ford's reputation as one of the most talented sculptors of his generation. The present terracotta recalls Irving's pose and expression in the marble, but with differences in the costume, including the hat and cloak, which are dispensed with in the Guildhall version. The date of 1880 suggests that the terracotta may be a sketch made in anticipation of the marble.

RELATED LITERATURE
B. Read, Victorian Sculpture, London, 1982, pp. 292-4