Divine Lovers

Details

Eric Gill (1882-1940)
Divine Lovers
pewter on ebony base
5 in. (13 cm.) high, including ebony base
Conceived by October 1923 and cast in an edition of six.

Literature

Exhibition catalogue, Eric Gill: Sculpture, London, Barbican Art Gallery, 1992, pp. 54, 94, another cast illustrated.
J. Collins, Eric Gill The Sculpture, London, 1998, pp. 52, 138, another cast illustrated (image reversed).

Exhibited

London, Goupil Gallery Salon, Eric Gill, October - December 1923, no. 393, another cast exhibited.
London, Goupil Gallery, Eric Gill, March 1928, no. 15, another cast exhibited.
London, Goupil Gallery, Spring Exhibition of Modern Art, April 1929, no. 134, another cast exhibited.
London, Barbican Art Gallery, Eric Gill: Sculpture, November 1992 - February 1993, no. 49, another cast exhibited: this exhibition travelled to Newtown, Powys, Oriel Gallery, February - April 1993; and Leeds, City Art Gallery, April - June 1993.

Special Notice

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Lot Essay

The Divine Lovers was originally a boxwood piece that Gill carved in April - May 1922. The following year he cast the piece in pewter in an edition of 6, which was revealed when one was offered for sale at the Goupil Gallery Salon in October for £5. In his diary for 1926 Gill wrote that he was working on the pewter casts and in April 1929 he exhibited one in another Goupil Gallery show, calling it Icon. Another cast of Divine Lovers is now in the collection of the Ditchling Museum, Sussex.

Gill returned to the subject of the Divine Lovers on several occasions in his work. The curved shape of the ebony base in this work echoes the haloes of the lovers.

We are grateful to Judith Collins for her assistance in preparing the catalogue entries for lots 129 and 130.

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