Alfred Gilbert (1854–1934) was probably the greatest and best known sculptor in pre-20th century British art. Work such as The Shaftesbury Memorial (Eros) located at the southeastern side of Piccadilly Circus, The Alexandra Memorial opposite St James Palace, and The Clarence Tomb at St George’s Chapel, Windsor are just a few of his public monuments.

Gilbert joined the Royal Academy of Arts at the age of 19, where he was exposed to the influence of Frederic, Lord Leighton, and Aimés Jules Dalou (at that time exiled in London and teaching at the South Kensington School of Art). In 1875 Gilbert moved to Paris, and then, three years later, to Rome. This contact with European arts was hugely influential, and the impact of Italian Renaissance, especially Florentine (Donatello's David and Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa come to mind in Gilbert’s work) would continue as a thread throughout his career.

Upon returning from Rome, Gilbert started to exhibit in London; at the Grosvenor Galleries and The Royal Academy, where models including Perseus Arming (1882) and Icarus (1882–84), and Comedy and Tragedy (1890) established the artist’s reputation at centre of the New Sculpture movement. Numerous private commissions and royal patronage followed.

Gilbert’s interest in new techniques and materials placed him as an entirely forward thinking, modern artist. His casting in aluminium for the Shaftesbury Memorial was the first example of the metal being used in English sculpture. Equally his use of polychrome, gilding and exotic stones in many of his models mark him as a true innovator. His investigations into the lost-wax process of casting, a technique he learnt in Italy, was entirely new to sculpture in Britain.

The turn of the century saw mounting financial issues, and the loss of his royal clientele, bankruptcy and self-exile to the continent followed. It was over 25 years before Gilbert’s triumphant return to England, marked by his final great commission: The Alexandra Memorial (1926–1932). He was knighted in 1932 and died two years later in 1934.

Alfred Gilbert’s work is held in major public collections around the world including in the Tate Gallery, London; The Victorian & Albert Museum, London; The Metropolitan Museum, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts and The Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

According to Richard Dorment, whose detailed catalogue entry about

The objects she holds were cast separately and are sometimes in silver or gilt bronze, there are also examples of the figure carrying a putto holding a torch. This specific example is of Anteros (the god of reciprocal love) and a flower. The young girl is pictured offering gifts to Hymen - the god of marriage.

Offering to Hymen was one of Gilbert's earliest bronzes modelled when he was in Rome in 1884 and can be seen an accompanying piece to the artist’s Icarus, and Comedy and Tragedy, and Perseus Arming.

Other casts of An Offering to Hymen are in public collections including Manchester City Art Gallery; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Ashmolean, Oxford; and The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.