Perseus Arming c1882. Alfred Gilbert, England (1854 - 1934). Perseus Arming has been described as one of the great works of Alfred Gilbert’s career. Influenced by Perseus and Medusa (1545-54) by Italian Renaissance sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, which depicts Perseus triumphantly standing over the slain Medusa, holding her head in his left hand and his sword in his right. Gilbert’s interpretation differs slightly by depicting the adolescent Perseus leaning back to check his sandals before the confrontation. In the original Greek myth, Perseus was lent his armour from various gods. Hermes lent his winged sandals, for travel at great speed, and Pluto lent him a cap of invisibility, so that he could travel unnoticed. The scimitar was given by Mercury, and his highly polished shield was from Athena. Gilbert is often said to have used his work as an allegory of his life as an artist at the time. In an interview in 1903, he stated: “As at that time my whole thoughts were of my artistic equipment for the futures. I conceived the idea that Perseus before becoming a hero was mere mortal, and that he had to look at his equipment.” Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Apollo, c 1936. Charles Despiau. France 1874-1946. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Spring Awakening 1913, cast 1993. Harold Parker, Australia, Queensland (1873-1962).

Spring Awakening 1913, cast 1993. Harold Parker, Australia, Queensland (1873-1962). This work symbolically represents Spring as a young woman. There is s strong suggestion of tension in the way the eyes of Spring are covered by the figure’s hands. Four casts, of which the Queensland Art Gallery’s is one, were taken from the original (now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra) by Meridian Foundry, Melbourne in 1993. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Hercules and Omphale (c1700). Giovanni Battista Foggini, Italy (1652-1725). Foggini trained at the Florentine Academy in Rome from 1673-76, and was appointed Grand Ducal Sculptor in Florence before eventually rising to the title of First Architect. Hercules and Omphale is a distinct example of baroque-style sculpture and reveals the influence of Roman sculptor Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. The Greek hero Hercules is depicted undertaking penance for the crime of murder. Attempting to purify himself, he offered himself as a slave and was bought by the Lydian Queen Omphale who set him to work performing women’s tasks. Here his extended hands would originally have held spinning tools. Omphale sits beside him wearing his cloak from the Nemean Lion and his club as signs of her dominance. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Génie de la danse (Spirit of the Dance), cast circa 1898. Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, France (1827-75).

Génie de la danse (Spirit of the Dance), cast circa 1898. Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, France (1827-75).

Génie de la danse (Spirit of the Dance), cast circa 1898. Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, France (1827-75). Jean Baptiste Carpeaux is the major sculptor associated with the rebuilding of Paris undertaken by Napoleon III in the second half of the nineteenth century. This bronze is a reduction of the central figure from the large scale stone relief Carpeaux sculpted for the facade of the new Opera House. When his work was unveiled in 1869 it caused a sensation because the female nude bachantes (female worshippers of the Greek god, Dionysus) surrounding the figure of the spirit of the dance were considered too realistic and not classical enough in their depiction. The composition is marked by great energy and vitality and is now considered one of the great outstanding examples of French nineteenth centure sculputre. It has been said of this work that rather illustrating dance, Carpeaux ‘created dance’. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.