Biography
"Born at Stevenage, Herts. From 1869 apprenticed to and worked with Farmer and Brindley. From 1879 attended Lambeth School of Art, much influenced by teaching of Dalou. Entered R.A. Schools in 1881 and in 1883 won gold medal and travelling scholarship. Went to Paris, sent” by Dalou to work under Rodin. In Paris, modelled low relief triptych illustrating Virgil's Aeneid. Returned to London 1885. Later adopted life-size figures, eg. Hounds in Leash, 1889. Adopted polychromy just before his death. Also executed Pandora, c. 1891, purchased by Chantrey Trustees. A.R.A. 1892" [British Sculpture 1850-1914]
"Harry Bates was a key exponent of the New Sculpture who, despite his short life, produced a broad-ranging body of works, from the monumental Hounds in Leash (1889) now at the Tate Gallery, to the polychrome symbolist fantasy Mors Janua Vitae (1899) now at the Sudley Gallery, in Liverpool. . . . His 30-feet high bronze of Field Marshall Lord Roberts (1832-1914) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1896 and was highly acclaimed. It was then erected in Calcutta, where it still stands. The statue in Horse Guards Parade is produced from a cast of the original bronze, which had been stored in the Crystal Palace. It was Henry Poole, a former assistant of Bates, who produced the Horse Guards Parade replica, and another which stands in Glasgow. The replica in Glasgow came first and is regarded as one of the finest equestrian statues in Britain. . . .Bates died in poverty, having drained his finances” by his insistence on financing th Calcutta statue of Lord Roberts from his own pocket." — Robert Bowman, Sir Alfred Gilbert and the New Sculpture, 6
Works in relief
- The Æneid Triptych
- Homer — "a blind old man and poor, sweetest he sings"
- The Story of Psyche
- Entire triptych in silvered bronze
- Central panel in silvered bronze
- Central panel in plaster
- Plaster relief of Pysche (left panel)
- Entire triptych (Photograph by Hollyer)
- War
- William Augustus Guy Medal
- Orpheus and Eurydice
- Easter frontal, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, London
Works in the Round
- Hounds in Leash
- William Haig Bown
- Institute for Chartered Accountants Building
- Entrance facing Moorgate Place
- Detail of Entrance facing Swan Lane
- Entrance facing Swan Lane
- Winged Term
- Mors Janua Vitae
- Pandora
- Lord Roberts Memorial (includes reliefs on pedestal)
- Queen Victoria
Bibliography
Beattie, Susan. The New Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
Bowman, Robert. Sir Alfred Gilbert and the New Sculpture. London: The Fine Art Society, 2008.
Robert Bowman and the Fine Art Society, London, have most generously given their permission to use information, images, and text from Sir Alfred Gilbert and the New Sculpture in the Victorian Web. Copyright on text and images from their catalogues remains, of course, with them. [GPL]
British Sculpture 1850-1914. A loan exhibition of sculpture and medals sponsored by The Victorian Society. London: Fine Art Society, 1968.
Last modified 21 September 2013