''Ecstasy'' is a relief sculpture by

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

. It depicts a male figure and a female figure, standing and embracing, in the act of

copulating Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetra ...

. It was acquired by the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

in 1982. Gill found creative links between sex and his Catholic spirituality: a drawing for this work was entitled ''Christ and the Church''. The sculpture also draws inspiration from Indian temple sculptures. It may have been modelled on his sister Gladys and her husband Ernest Laughton. From Gill's diary, it seems that he was working on the sculpture from around August 1910 and completed by February 1911. He refers to the sculpture as "'They' group 'fucking'." Correspondence between Gill and

Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developme ...

connected the work with two other reliefs, ''A Crucifix'' (also in the Tate) and ''A Roland for an Oliver'' (also known as ''Her'', held by the University of Hull).Text catalogue entry, Tate Gallery
/ref> The sculpture is made from

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

and measures . It bears a monogram on the right edge, of an eye on a hand, a symbol used by Gill in his early carvings. It was acquired from the artist by collector

Edward Perry Warren Edward Perry Warren (January 8, 1860 – December 28, 1928), known as Ned Warren, was an American art collector and the author of works proposing an idealized view of homosexual relationships. He is now best known as the former owner of the Warr ...

in 1912. Warren also owned a marble replica of

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

's '' The Kiss'' that he had commissioned from the original artist. After Warren's death in 1928 and Gill's death in 1940, the sculpture was sold at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

in March 1949 by Warren's heir H. Asa Thomas. The work was called ''They'' by Gill; it only became known as ''Ecstasy'' from the Sotheby's sale in 1949. It was bought by the

from Mrs D Webber in 1982. The work was accidentally damaged before it was acquired by the Tate Gallery: the top left corner is missing, including the back of the woman's head and the man's left wrist.

References

Further reading