Bronze
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henry-alfred-pegram-1751" aria-label="More by Henry Alfred Pegram" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Henry Alfred Pegram</a>
Ignis Fatuus
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1889
actions: postures and motions
adults
arm / arms raised
boredom
bow
cherub
contorted
desire
despair
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
female
head in hand / hands
imagination
man
military
nudes
objects
people
religion and belief
sitting
soldier
standing
stupidity
universal concepts
universal religious imagery
weapons
woman
work and occupations
<p>The title in Latin literally means ‘crazy fire’ but has come to refer to any venture that is deluded and foolhardy. The relief shows a woman sitting on a throne, her head supported by her arm in an attitude that mixes boredom, despair and resignation. She has been forsaken by the man in warrior’s garb who reaches up towards a group of extraordinary creatures who represent his fantasies and suggest their ultimate folly. Flames and smoke billow across the background. The sculpture was a development of an earlier roundel by Alfred Gilbert, whom Pegram greatly revered.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2016</em></p>
relief 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
7 August 2014 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
7 August 2014
2014-08-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-08-07
Gallery 9
Collection based display
Ignis Fatuus
displayed: 720 × 720 × 140 mm
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1889
<div class="text">
<p>The title in Latin literally means ‘crazy fire’ but has come to refer to any venture that is deluded and foolhardy. The relief shows a woman sitting on a throne, her head supported by her arm in an attitude that mixes boredom, despair and resignation. She has been forsaken by the man in warrior’s garb who reaches up towards a group of extraordinary creatures who represent his fantasies and suggest their ultimate folly. Flames and smoke billow across the background. The sculpture was a development of an earlier roundel by Alfred Gilbert, whom Pegram greatly revered.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2016-11-15T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01756</b> IGNIS FATUUS 1889</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘Henry Pegram 1889’ b.r.
<br/>Bronze circular relief, 20 1/2×4 (52×10).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1889.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1889 (2156).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> M. H. Spielmann, <i>British Sculpture and Sculptors of To-Day</i>, 1901, p.96.</p>
<p>The 1914 Tate Gallery catalogue describes the work thus: ‘A woman sits on a throne, her right hand supporting her head; she is forsaken, like the broken bow at his feet, by the man to her right in cloak and helmet, who stretches up his arms above her towards human heads with wings of birds and bats, chimeras of his ideal imaginations and desires.’ The Latin ‘Ignis Fatuus’, literally ‘Foolish Fire’, is here used in the sense of ‘will-o-the-wisp’ or ‘idle fancy’. There is another <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>cast</span></a> in the National Museum of Wales.</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, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults arm / arms raised boredom bow cherub contorted desire despair emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas female head in hand / hands imagination man military nudes objects people religion and belief sitting soldier standing stupidity universal concepts universal religious imagery weapons woman work and occupations