Lot 136: f,w - ALBERT TOFT BRITISH, 1862-1949

MATERNITY

measurements note
57cm., 22½in.

signed and dated: Albert Toft / 1908

gilt bronze, with inlaid paste stones (some missing)

NOTE

This rare cast of Maternity is known to us in only one other version, also in gilt bronze, in the Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Wales (acquired in 1943). Maternity closely relates to the high relief bronze of Charity on the pedestal of the monument to Queen Victoria erected in Notthingham in 1905, and they were probably conceived around the same time. The composition with a baby held on each arm and the arrangement of her robe and looped hair are almost identical save in the details. Maternity numbers amongst Toft's well received ideal works that included Fate-Led (1890) and The Spirit of Contemplation (1901). They show the confluence of the Lantéri-Dalou tradition which Toft learnt at the National Art Training School, with the symbolist overtones of Toft's friend Alfred Gilbert. Londoner's will identify Toft as the author of the iconic Royal Fusiliers Monument in the City and art students with his enduring book Modelling and Sculpture (1911).

RELATED LITERATURE
Beattie, pp.206-07, 252-52; Spielmann, pp.118-125