Sir Alfred Gilbert RA (12 August 1854 – 4 November 1934) was an English sculptor. He was born in London and studied sculpture under Joseph Boehm, Matthew Noble, Édouard Lantéri and Pierre-Jules Cavelier. His first work of importance was The Kiss of Victory, followed by the trilogy of Perseus Arming, Icarus and Comedy and Tragedy. His most creative years were from the late 1880s to the mid-1890s, when he produced several celebrated works such as a memorial for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria and the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain Anteros on Piccadilly Circus.

As well as sculpture, Gilbert explored other techniques such as goldsmithing and damascening. He painted watercolours and drew book illustrations. He was made a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1892, yet his personal life was beginning to unravel as he took on too many commissions and entered into debt, whilst at the same time his wife's mental health deteriorated. Gilbert received a royal commission for the tomb of Prince Albert Victor in 1892, but was unable to finish it and the number of complaints from other dissatisfied clients grew. By the mid-1900s, Gilbert had been forced to declare himself bankrupt and to resign from the Royal Academy. He moved to Bruges in disgrace and separated from his wife. He later remarried, entering a period when he created few artworks.

In the 1920s, his career was rehabilitated with the help of journalist Isabel McAllister. He returned to England and finally completed the tomb of Prince Albert Victor, as well as taking on new commissions such as the Queen Alexandra Memorial. In 1932, Gilbert was reinstated as a member of the Royal Academy and was also knighted. He died in 1934, at the age of 80. Gilbert was a central inspiration for the New Sculpture movement and in the 21st-century is regarded as one of the foremost sculptors of the Victorian age.

Alfred Gilbert was born 12 August 1854 at 13 Berners Street, near Oxford Street in central London. He was the eldest child of Charlotte Cole and Alfred Gilbert, who were both musicians. Berners Street was at that time an area popular with artists and musicians: there were shops selling stained glass, carvings, printings and bronze artworks; Ford Madox Brown and Edward Hodges Baily had studios; Leigh's Academy (run by James Mathews Leigh) was nearby, later becoming the Thomas J. Heatherley School of Art. Gilbert first attended William Kemshead's Academy for a few months in 1863, which was a naval school near Portsmouth. He then went to the Mercers' School in the City of London, afterwards switching to Aldenham School in Hertfordshire, where his father taught music. Gilbert later commented that "I always hated school". He enjoyed more spending time with his paternal grandfather, who taught him how to woodwork. At Aldenham, Gilbert began to make portraits of his schoolfellows with clay he took from ditches and the headmaster Alfred Leeman was encouraging, to the extent that Gilbert made a full-length seated portrait of him in 1872.

Gilbert's father pushed him to become a surgeon, so he applied to the Royal College of Surgeons and was accepted in 1872. He then went for a scholarship at Middlesex Hospital to work as a surgeon and was rejected, allowing him to pursue his true interest of sculpture. Studying first at the Thomas J. Heatherley School from 1872 until 1873, afterwards he went to the Royal Academy Schools from 1873 until 1875. His fellow students included Frank Dicksee, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, John Macallan Swan, Hamo Thornycroft and J. W. Waterhouse. Eager to learn, he also worked in the studios of Sir Joseph Boehm, Matthew Noble, and William Gibbs Rogers. Gilbert later credited Boehm and his assistant Édouard Lantéri as his true teachers.

Gilbert travelled to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts under Pierre-Jules Cavelier. He had fallen in love with his first cousin, Alice Jane Gilbert, and they were forced to elope. In Paris they lived first at the Hôtel l'Artesian at Place de la Madeleine and then at 17 rue Humboldt. Gilbert returned to England in April 1878 to be at the deathbed of his younger brother Gordon, who succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 20. Later that year, Gilbert moved to Rome with his wife and two young children. They lived at 63 Vicolo de'Miracoli, experiencing money problems as Gilbert waited to be paid for commissions whilst also having to pay rent. By 1881, Gilbert was splitting his time between a new studio space at 18 Via San Basilio in Rome and Capri. He returned to England in 1884.

Gilbert's first work of importance was The Kiss of Victory (1878–1881), which depicted a Roman soldier dying in the arms of Victory. He moved with his family to Rome in order to create the sculpture in marble, attracted by famed sculptors of the Renaissance such as Cellini, Donatello, Giambologna and Verrocchio. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1882.

Perseus Arming (1882) was inspired by a visit to Florence and influenced by Donatello's David and Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa. It was Gilbert's first statue made in bronze. The work was acclaimed and led Frederic Leighton to commission Icarus (1884), which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884, along with Study of a Head (1882–83). Gilbert also created The Enchanted Chair (c. 1885), only to destroy it again. He was commissioned by the Baroness von Fahnenberg to design a mausoleum in Spa, Belgium, Belgium but she died without having signed a final agreement, leading him to sue for compensation.