Alfred George Stevens, Victorian painter and sculptor, might
have been far better known if he had managed to be more skilful as a
businessman. He must go down as a failed genius because of his inability to
finish his projects, this being due largely to the exacting standards that he
set for himself.
Alfred Stevens's Early Career
He was born in Blandford, Dorset, on 31st December 1817, the
son of a house painter. He was largely self-taught, having spent the years from
1833 to 1842 studying classical and Renaissance art in Italy.
On returning to England, he taught design and worked on a
number of projects, including designs for the lions that adorn the railings
outside the British Museum and the mosaics of four prophets inside the dome
of St Paul’s Cathedral.
He also worked on more prosaic designs, such as for domestic
stoves and fenders on behalf of a foundry in Sheffield.
Alfred Stevens worked for six years on designs for murals at
Dorchester House, on Park Lane. These were never completed, and would have been
lost in any case when the house was demolished in 1929 to make way for the
Dorchester Hotel. However, some of the cartoons (preliminary artwork) survive,
and can be seen at Tate Britain, on Millbank. His style was not so much an
imitation of the forms of the Italian Renaissance as a reincarnation of its
spirit.
As a painter, Alfred Stevens specialised in portraiture,
although no more than 17 of his works are known to have been completed. These
were technically excellent, although other portrait painters of his time may
have had a better understanding of character. He demonstrated a mastery of
colour and of how to apply paint.
The Wellington Memorial
However, the project that occupied him for most of the
latter part of his life, and for which he is best known today, was the memorial
monument to the Duke of Wellington (who died in 1852) that can be seen in the
North Aisle of St Paul’s Cathedral. In 1856 a competition was announced for the
commission, which Stevens entered. However, his design was well down the list
of preferences, and he was only awarded the commission when proper
consideration was given to how the memorial would be placed in the cathedral,
framed by one of the aisle archways.
There were difficulties from the start, including Stevens’s
totally unrealistic estimate of what the project would cost to complete. He
also agreed to produce a full-scale plaster model in situ, which naturally led
to much debate over the design, with his intentions being queried at every
turn. When the money ran out, Stevens found that he had no choice other than to
finance the project himself.
In 1870 there was only the plaster model to show, and the
commissioner of works had Alfred Stevens’s contract terminated and his work
impounded. No other sculptor could take on the task and Stevens was brought
back to the project, under supervision. However, Stevens did not live to see the
memorial completed as he died suddenly, in his studio, on 1st May 1875, at the
age of 57. There is a suggestion that he may have committed suicide out of
despair.
The monument was eventually completed in 1912, some 56 years
after it began. Much of the work was done by Hugh Stannus, who unveiled an
incomplete version in 1878, and John Tweed, who completed the piece to Stevens’s
original design, or as close to it as was possible. Finance was the main
problem, with various arms of government refusing to take responsibility or to
find the funds. There was also considerable debate over what had been Alfred
Stevens’s intentions, as it was well known that his plans had changed at
various stages. The monument was to be surmounted by a massive bronze horse and
rider, but there were doubts as to whether the structure would take the weight.
The 40-foot-high monument comprises a sarcophagus with a
bronze effigy of the Duke of Wellington lying on it. A marble canopy, supported
on slender pillars, rises above it. On one side of the canopy is a sculpture,
cast in bronze, of Valour overcoming Cowardice and on the other side is Truth
defeating Falsehood. The influence of Michelangelo is easy to see in both these
bronzes. Other sculptured figures can be seen at the base and on other parts of
the edifice. Surmounting the whole structure is the bronze figure of the Duke
riding his favourite horse, Copenhagen, as mentioned above.
One difficulty with getting the monument completed was that
for many years the unfinished work was placed in a side chapel of the cathedral
where it could not be seen to advantage, with some of the excellent sculptural
work not being visible. However, the full splendour of the monument is now
fully on display in its rightful place. Stevens’s original 10-foot high plaster
model of the monument, made for the 1856 competition, can also be seen, but at
the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington.
Assessing his Legacy
Alfred Stevens has been regarded by many as the finest
sculptor of his age, although the small quantity of his work makes it difficult
to judge its quality. What we do know is that his meticulous attention to
detail and destruction of anything that he considered to be at all sub-standard
means that the work that has survived is the very best that he could do, and,
had he left more such work behind him, it would have been equally good.
© John Welford
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