Alfred Gilbert: Sculptor and Goldsmith - Tapa dura

Sir Alfred Gilbert, crator of one of Londons most famoust monuments. Eros in Piccadilly Circus, was one of the most original and ambitions sculptors of the Victorian era. Eros has recently been removed from the Shaftesbury Memprial for cleaning and restoration, and the Royal Academy of Arts is celebrating its return with an exhibition honouring its creator. Gilbert was born in London in 1854, the eldest son of professional musicians. Having trained as an astist in London. Paris and rome, he returned to England where his work was already creating a sensation. He was immediately inundated with royal, public and private commissions, and celebrated as the formost sculptor of this day. But the need to satisfy public committers, to compromise and pander to private clients, took its toll on Gilberts astistic creativity. To keep up apperances he wildly overspent, until, in igot , he declared himself bamkrupt. He spent the next twenty-five years in self-imposed exile in Brugers, returning to England in 1926 to complice one last masterpiece.......