Oscar Wilde's tomb

In 1908, Oscar Wilde's literary executor Robert Ross[3] chose Jacob Epstein for the commission of the tomb at a cost of two thousand pounds, which had been anonymously donated for this purpose.[4] Later, in a publication of letters between Ada Leverson and Ross in 1930, Letters to the Sphinx, the anonymous donor was revealed to be Helen Carew, with financial assistance from novelist Stephen Hudson (Sydney Schiff).[4] This was only Epstein's second commission, his first being the sculpture for the Holden-designed British Medical Association building in The Strand; these had been severely criticised for being too sexualised for public consumption. However, Epstein retained some noteworthy supporters within the Wilde circle such as William Rothenstein.[5]

The choice of Oscar Wilde's monument created controversy. Wilde's supporters would have liked for the monument to derive in some way from Wilde's works, such as "The Young King", by invoking homoerotica with figures of forlorn Greek youths, whereas Wilde's detractors believed he was deserving of no monument at all.[6] One can see the influences of Wilde's works in Epstein's original sketches for the tomb, which feature two young men, heads downcast in an image of grief and sorrow upon an empty stone stele. However, Epstein has said of his sketches of the tomb that he "was dissatisfied and scrapped quite completed work".[4]

It has been suggested that the change in design plans are due to Epstein's new focus on Wilde's poem "The Sphinx".[3] However, a number of influences began to play on Epstein around this period, including that of fellow sculptor Eric Gill.[7] The two artists were deeply interested in what they saw as the more primal sexuality of Indian and Egyptian art, as opposed to British art. Pennington refers to this period in Epstein's work as the Sun Temple period and claims that, having been unable to follow this path with some of his works in Britain, Epstein transferred his new passion onto the Wilde tomb.[8]

The monument began as a 20-tonne block of Hopton Wood stone in Derbyshire, England, unveiled to the London press in June 1912.[9] Epstein devised a vast winged figure, a messenger swiftly moving with vertical wings, giving the feeling of forward flight; the conception was purely symbolical, the conception of a poet as a messenger, but many people tried to read into it a portrait of Oscar Wilde.[10]

In the original sketches, the influences have been linked to the winged Assyrian bulls in the British Museum.[11] The small angel figure behind the ear of the Sphinx may have been a deliberate reference by Epstein to the verse in Wilde's poem The Sphinx: "sing me all your memories".[9] Upon the headdress there are five figures, one with a crucifix, perhaps symbolising the martyrdom of Oscar Wilde; this may be a recurring theme—Epstein may have chosen the Sphinx with a crucified figure upon the headress in reference to the sensual life choice of Wilde thinly veiled by his Catholicism.[12] In Epstein's original sketchings there is a list of ten sins, however none are recognisable clearly on the final monument apart from the Egyptian-like helmet haircuts on the women.[13]

On the finished stone monument the small angel behind the ear has been removed and replaced by an elaborate headdress, the crucified figure and the phallic sphinx have been removed, and in their place is a personification of fame being trumpeted.[14] This may have been Epstein landing on a less sentimental, carved and angular alternative.[3]

Whilst transporting the monument to the cemetery in France from his Cheyne Walk studios in London, Epstein ran into trouble with the police—having rejected its status as a work of art, French customs placed a punishing import duty of £120 on the monument for the value of the stone.[15] Once the bill was paid (it has been suggested that Robert Ross had borrowed the funds from Ada Leverson),[16] the monument was covered with tarpaulin due to the Parisian officials' reaction to the monument's nudity. Epstein returned to the cemetery one evening and found that the testicles on the statue had been covered by plaster, as the size of the testicles was considered unusual.[4] The monument was under police surveillance and Epstein found he could only continue his work upon it after bribing a police officer to look away, but the work was sporadic and the tarpaulin was replaced at night.[17] Eventually, as compromise, under Robert Ross' instruction, a bronze plaque similar to the shape of a butterfly was placed upon the testicles of the monument and it was unveiled in early August 1914 by the occultist and poet Aleister Crowley. Epstein was furious that his work had been altered without his consent and refused to attend the unveiling.[18] A few weeks later Aleister Crowley approached Epstein in a café in Paris, and around his neck was a bronze butterfly—he informed Epstein that his work was now on display as he intended.[19]

The testicles were removed in an act of vandalism in 1961.[20] It is said that the cemetery manager used them as a paperweight.[21] They are now missing.[22] In 2000, Leon Johnson, a multimedia artist, installed a silver prosthesis to replace them.[23]

The tomb with modern glass barrier

The epitaph is a verse from The Ballad of Reading Gaol:[24]

And alien tears will fill for him
  Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
  And outcasts always mourn.

Today, the monument is viewed by thousands of visitors every year. A tradition developed whereby visitors would kiss the tomb after applying lipstick to their mouth, thereby leaving a "print" of their kiss.[21] Cleaning operations to remove the lipstick grease have caused the stone to become more porous. It is therefore even harder to clean in subsequent attempts, necessitating more drastic and surface-damaging procedures.[25] In 2011, a glass barrier was erected to make the monument 'kiss-proof'.[26][27] However, the barrier only covers the lower half of the tomb. As Ireland's Office of Public Works considers the tomb an Irish monument overseas, it has paid for the cleaning and the barrier.[25]

A number of Epstein's sketches for the work have survived, some in private collections[28][9] and some in galleries,[29] including a profile of the side view in the Garman Ryan Collection at The New Art Gallery Walsall.[30]

• Media related to Grave of Oscar Wilde and Robert Baldwin Ross at Wikimedia Commons
• Pencil study for the tomb at The New Art Gallery Walsall
• "Wilde's Tomb" at The Poetry Foundation