Bertram MACKENNAL

Australian 1863–1931
worked in England, France and India 1884–1931

Bertram Mackennal, son of the Melbourne sculptor J. S. Mackennal, was one of the first of his generation to visit Europe to complete his artistic education. Arriving in London in 1883, he studied the Antique at the British Museum, and obtained admission to the Royal Academy schools. ‘But soon he found himself intolerant of the necessary routine,’ wrote the Magazine of Art in an article on ‘An Australian quartette’ (Mackennal, Bunny, Longstaff and Altson) in 1895, ‘and went to Paris, where he placed himself under no one master, but set up a studio for himself—he was then only nineteen, and obtained his varied tuition by visiting the studios of the several leading sculptors.’ In 1887 he won the competition to carve the relief panels on the facade of Parliament House, Melbourne, and returned home in 1888, staying until 1891. Although preoccupied with the commission, he found time to undertake a number of other works, including portraits of the visiting actresses, Janet Achurch and Sarah Bernhardt, and a maquette, The triumph of Truth, for the Public Library sculpture competition. Back in Europe his career did not really take off until he exhibited the model for his statue of Circe (bronze, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria) at the Paris Salon in 1893 and at the Royal Academy the following year.

The Portrait head of a woman is tentatively dated c. 1888, allowing for it to have been made in either Paris or Melbourne. It shows the influence of Alfred Gilbert, particularly the Study of a head (National Museum of Wales) which Gilbert exhibited (and Mackennal may have seen) at the Royal Academy in 1883. The lively, realistic modelling of the face is counterpointed by the more summary treatment of the hair. The sitter has not been identified.

Terence Lane