Bronze
Tate Britain
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-alfred-gilbert-208" aria-label="More by Sir Alfred Gilbert" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Alfred Gilbert</a>
Comedy and Tragedy Sic Vita
Bequeathed by Frederick Harrison 1936
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
animals: actions
animals: insects & lower animals
attacking
bee
carrying / holding
clothing and personal items
diseases and conditions
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
grimacing
irony
leisure and pastimes
male
man
mask
music and entertainment
nudes
objects
pain
people
standing
suffering
theatre
twisting
universal concepts
<p>The Latin subtitle to this work means 'Thus is life'. Gilbert explained that the sculpture represents a prop-boy carrying the mask of Comedy: 'He is stung by a bee - a symbol of love. He turns and his face becomes tragic. The symbol is in reality fact. I was stung by that bee, typified by my love for my art, a consciousness of its incompleteness'. While outwardly successful, Gilbert was trapped in a spiral of debt, disputes over uncompleted commissions and anxiety about his sick wife. He saw this sculpture as 'the climax to my cycle of stories' begun with <i>Perseus Arming</i> and <i>Icarus</i>. From a certain angle the face of Tragedy can be seen through the grinning mouth of Comedy.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
sculpture bronze
20 March 2009 – 17 October 2010
2010-10-17
20 March 2009 – 17 October 2010
2010-10-17
2009-03-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-03-20
New Sculpture
Collection based display
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
5 November 2016 – 5 February 2017
2017-02-05
2016-11-05
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
18 March 2017 – 16 July 2017
2017-07-16
2017-03-18
Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand)
11 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
2018-02-04
2017-08-11
Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
24 March 2018 – 24 June 2018
2018-06-24
2018-03-24
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
8 May 2023 – 5 May 2025
2025-05-05
31 October 2022
2022-10-31
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-05-08
Gallery 6
Collection based display
Comedy and Tragedy: ‘Sic Vita’
object: 349 × 152 × 140 mm
Bequeathed by Frederick Harrison 1936
<p>The Latin subtitle to this work means 'Thus is life'. Gilbert explained that the sculpture represents a prop-boy carrying the mask of Comedy: 'He is stung by a bee - a symbol of love. He turns and his face becomes tragic. The symbol is in reality fact. I was stung by that bee, typified by my love for my art, a consciousness of its incompleteness'. While outwardly successful, Gilbert was trapped in a spiral of debt, disputes over uncompleted commissions and anxiety about his sick wife. He saw this sculpture as 'the climax to my cycle of stories' begun with <i>Perseus Arming</i> and <i>Icarus</i>. From a certain angle the face of Tragedy can be seen through the grinning mouth of Comedy.  
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N04829</b> COMEDY AND TRAGEDY: ‘SIC VITA’ <i>c.</i>
1890–2
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘A. Gilbert’ below foot.
<br/>Bronze, 13 3/4×6×5 1/2 (35×15×14), on wooden base, 2×3 3/4×3 3/4 (5×9·5×9·5).
<br/>Bequeathed by Frederick Harrison 1936.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Frederick Harrison, died 1926.
<br/><i>Lit:</i> M. H. Spielmann, <i>British Sculpture and Sculptors of To-day</i>, 1901, p.78; Hatton, 1903, pp.11, 12, repr; McAllister, 1929, p.88; Bury, 1952, pp.59, 70.</p>
<p>The topic was suggested by W. S. Gilbert's <i>Comedy and Tragedy</i>, originally written in 1884, produced at the Lyceum and revived at the Haymarket Theatre, of which Frederick Harrison was then the proprietor, in 1890. Hatton quotes the artist's account of his intentions as follows: ‘It represents a boy carrying a mask. He is stung by a bee - a symbol of love. He turns and his face becomes tragic. The symbol is in reality fact. I was stung by that bee, typified by my love for my art, a consciousness of its incompleteness.... I conceived the notion of harking back to the old Greek stage upon which masks were always worn, and I conceived a kind of stage property boy rushing away in great glee with his comedy mask, and on his way being stung by a bee.’</p>
<p>This is a reduced version of the original, a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> model of which (30 in. high) was exhibited at the R.A., 1892 (2004), and is now in the V. &amp; A. (repr. Cox, 1936, pl.5). <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>Bronzes</span></a> exist of both the large and small versions.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults animals: actions animals: insects & lower animals attacking bee carrying / holding clothing and personal items diseases and conditions emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas grimacing irony leisure and pastimes male man mask music and entertainment nudes objects pain people standing suffering theatre twisting universal concepts