Object Description
ALBERT TOFT
(1862-1949)
Relief Portrait of Sir Henry Irving
Indistinctly signed l.r.: Albert Toft
Bronze, dark brown patina, on wooden base
Diameter 24.5 cm., 9 ¾ in.
(base diameter 28 cm., 1§ in.)
This is the large of Tofts two portrait medallions of the famous actor Sir Henry Irving. This plaque was originally sculpted in 1887 and re-cast in 1904, on the death of Irving, by the Alfred Barnard Foundry. Not bearing the foundry mark, this appears to be a later cast. A very similar version was recently sold in the Fine Art Society sale at Sotheby’s, 5 February 2019, lot 86.
A sculptor of the New Sculpture movement, Toft first trained at Wedgwood and attended art schools in Hanley and Newcastle upon Tyne. He won a scholarship to study modelling under Lanteri at the South Kensington Schools in 1881-3. He was a successful portrait sculptor who also produced decorative and architectural sculpture. He was elected to the Art Workers Guild and in 1938 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.