Old Victory

In Edwardian England 25 years ago a famed sculptor swung a hammer into a stone face of the Duke of Clarence and exiled himself for 18 years in Bruges, the Dead City of Belgium. Last week the same man, old and long forgotten, bowed low over King George's hand, stood before Queen Mary in silence, then flung out his thin arms in a Baroque gesture of gratitude.

Alfred Gilbert, 78, could say that he had never changed his mind for anybody. In 1893 he was Britain's most fashionable sculptor when he began a long woe by doing the winged Eros for Piccadilly Circus honoring the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It was paid for, refused, abused. Gilbert bought the bronze, $15,000 worth, himself. He refused to do another design.

Six years ago George V remembered Gilbert, asked why he was not in England. Indomitable Gilbert went home at last, began a memorial for King George's mother, the late Queen Alexandra. As he neared the finish, his anxiety, his insistence on perfection, enfeebled him, left him almost mortally ill, yet he prolonged the work until he was satisfied.

Last week the flower of Georgian England watched George & Mary unveil Queen Alexandra, congratulate Edwardian Sculptor Gilbert. Watching were Edward, Prince of Wales who had put on his Welsh Guards uniform, the Duke of Gloucester as a hussar, the Duke of York and Prince George as naval officers, Premier Ramsay MacDonald, the Duke of Portland. Next day King George knighted Sculptor Gilbert who had outwaited the world.

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