The present marble, emerging for the first time in nearly a hundred years, belongs to a small edition of two-thirds life-size rendition of John Gibson’s most celebrated work – Tinted Venus. Considered to be one of the most important works of Victorian sculpture, the work revival joins one of various works by 19th sculptors which revived the ancient tradition of ‘sculptural polychromy’. Gibson’s Tinted Venus first appeared at the 1862 Universal Exhibition in its tinted form as the centerpiece of a Grecian Temple, designed by the celebrated architect Owen Jones. Reception of the display was undoubtedly divisive with critics immediately disparaging it as ‘so indecent a statue’, which directly opposed the views of the public as well as Gibson’s contemporaries who lauded it as 'one of the most beautiful and elaborate figures undertaken in modern times' (Sculptor's Journal, 1863). In an accompanying essay for a comparably-scaled Tinted Venus, sold Sotheby’s London, 3-9 July 2020, Gibson scholar Timothy Stevens explores in depth the immediate aftermath of the figure’s exhibition, as well as the spectacle it incited within its temple environs. Notably, Steven’s cited Gibson’s own account from his studio in preparation from the fair, pointing to a letter from Gibson wrote to Sir Charles Eastlake in 1861 confirmed his full intent to disrupt the norm: ‘I expect the people, encouraged by the scrib[b]lers, will fancy that it is not right to paint statues’ (Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute, 870174-6). In coloured stereoscope view of the temple, the effect is arresting with contrasting colors laid upon the smooth flesh of the figure. Again the artist wrote: ‘I took the liberty to decorate it in a fashion unprecedented in modern times’ (Eastlake, op. cit.).

Gibson’s Tinted Venus produced the first example of an untinted model for Joseph Neeld, heir to the wealthy silversmith Philip Rundell, to stand at Grittleton Hall in Wiltshire. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1839, no. 1303, it now resides in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, (inv. no. M.4-1975). However, the enduring popularity of the Tinted Venus resulted in subsequent commissions, both tinted and untinted and in reduced dimensions, as with the present example. Stevens discusses Gibson’s workshop practices at his studio on the via della Fontanella, Rome, where the artist is rarely recorded as producing more than three or four replicas of any given work (op cit.). The present marble, at two-thirds scale of Gibson’s original, was acquired by Lady Rosamund Christie in 1933 from a sale including property ‘removed from a well-known house in Bedford Square the property of a gentleman who is changing residence' – potentially one of the last works she purchased for the interior decoration of Tapeley Park. Another Tinted Venus, with provancen linked directly to the artist’s studio, sold Sotheby’s, BC/AD Sculpture Ancient to Modern, 3-9 July 2020, lot 5 (£375,000).

JOHN GIBSON, R.A.
Having served his apprenticeship in his home town of Liverpool, John Gibson moved to London, where through connections with Lord Brougham and Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, he received portrait commissions and had his work accepted by the Royal Academy. His heart set on Rome, he finally arrived there in 1817 and was welcomed into the studio of the celebrated sculptor Canova, whose Neoclassic influence was imbued in Gibson’s work throughout his career. He also received assistance from Thorvaldsen, who was living in the city at the time. Gibson's first original work was his life-size figure of the 'Sleeping Shepherd' and his first patron, the Duke of Devonshire, for whom he carved 'Mars and Cupid'. The sculptor’s rapid success led friends to urge him to return to England where he could make substantial amounts of money through such commissions. However, despite exhibiting at the Royal Academy between 1816 and 1864 and being elected a full member in 1838, Gibson refused to do so, only revisiting the country on two further occasions, each time to execute a statue of Queen Victoria.