Captain Basil Gotto
Born 10 August 1866
Died 19 October 1954
Active: 1887 - 1935
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor
Born Highgate, London. He was the son of Henry Jenkin Gotto (born c.1817), stationer. Gotto attended Harrow where he won the drawing prize and then studied at the Royal Academy Schools (from 1887) after a period in Paris at the Académie Julien. During the war in South Africa (1899-1902) he was a war correspondent for the 'Daily Express'. Gotto also served in the First World War as a staff-officer for musketry at Bisley and the Depot, Winchester.
In 1909 Gotto was awarded a prize at the Paris Salon. Among his principal works are the Memorial to the Middlesex Yeomanry, St Paul’s Cathedral; The Fighting Newfoundlander and the Caribou for the Newfoundland Battle Memorial; and the Army and Navy Club Memorial.
Gotto had a wide circle of friends who included Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, James McNeill Whistler, George Sala, Sir J M Barrie, and the sculptors Francis Derwent Wood, Frederick Pomeroy, Captain Adrian Jones and Auguste Rodin. He was also a member of: the Arts Club, The Chess Club, the Chelsea Arts Club (Chairman 1913-15) and Hampshire County Club. He died at Twyford, Winchester, Hants.
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
The Orator
1907
John Rinder, Esq.
1907
The Slinger
1908
Locations
Address Newhouse Park St. Albans | View on map
1889 (Circa)
Address 57 Elizabeth Street Eaton Square London | View on map
1891 (Circa)
Address 82 Drayton Gardens West Brompton London | View on map
1900 (Circa)
Address 41 Glebe Place Chelsea London SW | View on map
1902 (Circa) - 1915 (Circa)
Address 29 Cheyne Walk Chelsea London SW | View on map
1911 (Circa)
Address 1 Priory Grove The Boltons London | View on map
1919 (Circa)
Address Bridge House Twyford Winchester | View on map
1920 (Presumed) - 1954
Address given as Arts Club Dover Street London | View on map
1915 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Special Loan Exhibition, 1911
Multiple works
Exhibited at Forty-Sixth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1907
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Fifty-Fourth Annual Exhibition, 1915
'The Little Coaster Girl'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1889 - 1935
Exhibited 28 times, forty-one works in all (primarily statuettes, portraits, and studies for memorials)
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Dublin, 1907
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II: 'Brother Ruffino' (bronze), p. 27 (214); 'A Boy's Head' (marble), p. 28 (225). Both lent by the sculptor.
Exhibited at Franco-British Exhibition of Science, Art and Industries (London), 1908
1908
Won prize Landseer Scholarships (Royal Academy of Arts), 1884-1950
1890
Institutional and Business Connections
Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1923 - 1929
Chairwoman/chairman of Chelsea Arts Club
1913 - 1915
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1905 - 1921 (Circa)
Amongst those 'Invited to join without the formality of proposal and seconding' [January 10 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]. Re-joined after 1921 and then resigned in 1923. Re-joined again as an associate.
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
1890
Awarded a Landseer Scholarship for sculpture in 1890. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1890', (1891), p. 30.
Unsuccessful in ballot for election to Royal Academy of Arts
Despite nominations in 1907, 1920 and 1927-1928.
Personal and Professional Connections
Nominated by Thomas Brock
19 November 1907
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by (Edward) Alfred Briscoe Drury
19 November 1907
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by George James Frampton
19 November 1907
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by Frederick William Pomeroy
19 November 1907
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by William Goscombe John
19 November 1907 - 15 March 1927
Two nominations for RA, in 1907 and 1927, both unsuccessful.
Nominated by Reginald Theodore Blomfield
27 February 1920
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by Francis Bernard Dicksee
27 February 1920
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by Frank Short
27 February 1920
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by Henry Scott Tuke
27 February 1920
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by Alexander Stanhope Forbes
7 March 1927
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by George Henry
5 December 1928
For RA; unsuccessful.
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Artist & Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Sculptor' working on own account at home
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor' employer
Sources
Artists and Bohemians: 100 Years with the Chelsea Arts Club
1992
Catalogue of the Fine Art Section,
Franco-British Exhibition,
London, 1908
1908
Catalogue of the Special Loan Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1911
1911
Cat. Nos. 276, 277, 279, pp. 31, 34
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 1115 folio 143 page 17
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
RG13 piece 95 folio 21 page 33
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN402 RG78PN13 RD4 SD2 ED6 SN101
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
Jul-Aug-Sept 1866
Pancras, London Middx
Volume 1b
Page 190
International Exhibition, Dublin 1907, Fine Art Catalogue
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II
p. 27, no. 214:'Brother Ruffino'.
Bronze.
p. 28, no. 225:'A Boy's Head'. Marble.
Both lent by the Sculptor.
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1906-1927
1927
p.11.
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1927-1938
1938
p.4.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
10 January 1905
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
2008
The Times, Thursday, Oct 21, 1954; pg. 10; Issue 53068; col D
Mr. Basil Gotto
Category: Obituaries
Who was Who
December 2007
‘GOTTO, Basil’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U237821, accessed 13 Jan 2009]
Citing this record
'Captain Basil Gotto', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1214575300, accessed 08 Jun 2023]
