Sir Richard WestmacottRA (15 July 1775 – 1 September 1856) was a British sculptor.1
Life and career
Westmacott studied with his father, also named Richard Westmacott, at his studio in Mount Street, off Grosvenor Square in London before going to Rome in 1793 to study under Antonio Canova.2 Westmacott devoted all his energies to the study of classical sculpture, and throughout his life his real sympathies were with pagan rather than with Christian art. Within a year of his arrival in Rome he won the first prize for sculpture offered by the Florentine Academy of Arts, and in the following year he gained the papal gold medal awarded by the Academy of St Luke with his bas-relief of Joseph and his brothers.3 On returning to England in 1797, he set up a studio, where John Edward Carew and Musgrave Watson gained experience.
Westmacott had his own foundry at Pimlico, in London, where he cast both his own works, and those of other sculptors, including John Flaxman's statue of Sir John Moore for Glasgow. Late in life he was asked by the Office of Works for advice on the casting of the relief panels for Nelson's Column.4 He also had an arrangement with the Trustees of the British Museum, which allowed him to make moulds and supply plaster casts of classical sculpture in the museum's collection to country house owners, academies and other institutions.
This page is based on “Richard Westmacott” from English Wikipedia, (r1374773163) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.
Westmacott exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1797 and 1839. His name is given in the catalogues as "R. Westmacott, Junr." until 1807, when the "Junr." was dropped.5 He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1805, and a full academician in 1811.2 His academy diploma piece, a marble relief of Jupiter and Ganymede, remains in the academy's collection.6 He was professor of sculpture at the academy from 1827 until his death.2 He received his knighthood on 19 July 1837.78 In 1852 when contacted by the Corporation of London about a possible sculpture commission, Westmacott replied that he had not been active as a sculptor for some years.9
Westmacott's sculptures of poetical subjects were in a style similar to those of the contemporary Italian school: his works of this type included Psyche and Cupid for the Duke of Bedford; Euphrosyne for the Duke of Newcastle; A Nymph Unclasping her Zone; The Distressed Mother and The Houseless Traveller.2
Westmacott also sculpted the memorials to William Pitt the Younger, Spencer Perceval, Charles James Fox and Joseph Addison in Westminster Abbey; the statue of Fox in Bloomsbury Square; and those to Sir Ralph Abercromby, Lord Collingwood and Generals Edward Pakenham and Samuel Gibbs in St Paul's Cathedral.2 The Abercromby monument is considered by some critics as the most original composition of Westmacott's entire career.19 The idea to create a memorial to a British military hero by showing his death in action was a bold departure from the more common use of allegorical figures and personifications of virtue.19 The memorial, a free-standing marble group on an oval base, showed Abercromby falling dead from his charging horse into the arms of soldier and established Westmacott's reputation for originality.19 His memorial to Pitt in Westminster Abbey, commissioned in 1807, shows a male figure representing anarchy writhing in chains at Pitt's feet, a reference to Pitt's suppression of revolutionaries by press censorship and other means.9
Westmacott's other church monuments include those to Lt. General Christopher Jeaffreson (died 1824) in St.Mary's Church in Dullingham;20 to Commander Charles Cotton (died 1828) at St. Mary's Church in Madingley;21 to William Pemberton (died 1828) at St Margaret's Church in Newton, South Cambridgeshire;22 to Sir George Warren (died 1801) at St. Mary's Church, Stockport in Greater Manchester, depicting a standing female figure by an urn on a pillar;23 to Rev. Charles Prescott (died 1820), in St. Mary's Church, Stockport, showing a seated effigy23 and to Mary Henson (died 1805) in Bainton parish church, showing a seated figure against an urn. A bust of David Garrick by Westmacott is in Lichfield Cathedral.24
He created a sculptural group for the marble arch of the Cumberland Gate to Hyde Park.25
Personal life
Westmacott lived and died at 14 South Audley Street, Mayfair, London where he is commemorated by a blue plaque.26 Two of his brothers, George, who was active between 1799 and 1827, and Henry, (1784–1861) were also sculptors.10 In 1798 Westmacott married Dorothy Margaret Wilkinson.3 Their son, also called Richard Westmacott, followed closely in his footsteps also becoming a notable sculptor, a Royal Academician and professor of sculpture at the academy.
Algernon Graves (1905). The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904. Vol. 8. London: Henry Graves. pp. 239–40. ↩
Philip Ward-Jackson (2003). Public Sculpture of Britain Volume 7: Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool University Press / Public Monuments & Sculpture Association. ISBN0-85323-977-0. ↩↩2
Ian Chilvers (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-860476-9. ↩↩2↩3
Jo Darke (1991). The Monument Guide to England and Wales. Macdonald Illustrated. ISBN0-356-17609-6. ↩
Charles Kendall Adams (ed.). Johnson's Universal Cyclopædia: A New Edition. Vol. 8. p. 717. ("Westmacott, Sir Richard M.A." entry revised by Russell Sturgis) (found in this Google book search) ↩
Sir Richard WestmacottRA (15 July 1775 – 1 September 1856) was a British sculptor.1
Life and career
Westmacott studied with his father, also named Richard Westmacott, at his studio in Mount Street, off Grosvenor Square in London before going to Rome in 1793 to study under Antonio Canova.2 Westmacott devoted all his energies to the study of classical sculpture, and throughout his life his real sympathies were with pagan rather than with Christian art. Within a year of his arrival in Rome he won the first prize for sculpture offered by the Florentine Academy of Arts, and in the following year he gained the papal gold medal awarded by the Academy of St Luke with his bas-relief of Joseph and his brothers.3 On returning to England in 1797, he set up a studio, where John Edward Carew and Musgrave Watson gained experience.
Westmacott had his own foundry at Pimlico, in London, where he cast both his own works, and those of other sculptors, including John Flaxman's statue of Sir John Moore for Glasgow. Late in life he was asked by the Office of Works for advice on the casting of the relief panels for Nelson's Column.4 He also had an arrangement with the , which allowed him to make moulds and supply plaster casts of classical sculpture in the museum's collection to country house owners, academies and other institutions.
Westmacott exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1797 and 1839. His name is given in the catalogues as "R. Westmacott, Junr." until 1807, when the "Junr." was dropped.5 He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1805, and a full academician in 1811.2 His academy diploma piece, a marble relief of Jupiter and Ganymede, remains in the academy's collection.6 He was professor of sculpture at the academy from 1827 until his death.2 He received his knighthood on 19 July 1837.78 In 1852 when contacted by the Corporation of London about a possible sculpture commission, Westmacott replied that he had not been active as a sculptor for some years.9
Westmacott's sculptures of poetical subjects were in a style similar to those of the contemporary Italian school: his works of this type included Psyche and Cupid for the Duke of Bedford; Euphrosyne for the Duke of Newcastle; A Nymph Unclasping her Zone; The Distressed Mother and The Houseless Traveller.2
Westmacott also sculpted the memorials to William Pitt the Younger, Spencer Perceval, Charles James Fox and Joseph Addison in Westminster Abbey; the statue of Fox in Bloomsbury Square; and those to Sir Ralph Abercromby, Lord Collingwood and Generals Edward Pakenham and Samuel Gibbs in St Paul's Cathedral.2 The Abercromby monument is considered by some critics as the most original composition of Westmacott's entire career.19 The idea to create a memorial to a British military hero by showing his death in action was a bold departure from the more common use of allegorical figures and personifications of virtue.19 The memorial, a free-standing marble group on an oval base, showed Abercromby falling dead from his charging horse into the arms of soldier and established Westmacott's reputation for originality.19 His memorial to Pitt in Westminster Abbey, commissioned in 1807, shows a male figure representing anarchy writhing in chains at Pitt's feet, a reference to Pitt's suppression of revolutionaries by press censorship and other means.9
Westmacott's other church monuments include those to Lt. General Christopher Jeaffreson (died 1824) in St.Mary's Church in Dullingham;20 to Commander Charles Cotton (died 1828) at St. Mary's Church in Madingley;21 to William Pemberton (died 1828) at St Margaret's Church in Newton, South Cambridgeshire;22 to Sir George Warren (died 1801) at St. Mary's Church, Stockport in Greater Manchester, depicting a standing female figure by an urn on a pillar;23 to Rev. Charles Prescott (died 1820), in St. Mary's Church, Stockport, showing a seated effigy23 and to Mary Henson (died 1805) in Bainton parish church, showing a seated figure against an urn. A bust of David Garrick by Westmacott is in Lichfield Cathedral.24
He created a sculptural group for the marble arch of the Cumberland Gate to Hyde Park.25
Personal life
Westmacott lived and died at 14 South Audley Street, Mayfair, London where he is commemorated by a blue plaque.26 Two of his brothers, George, who was active between 1799 and 1827, and Henry, (1784–1861) were also sculptors.10 In 1798 Westmacott married Dorothy Margaret Wilkinson.3 Their son, also called Richard Westmacott, followed closely in his footsteps also becoming a notable sculptor, a Royal Academician and professor of sculpture at the academy.
Algernon Graves (1905). The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904. Vol. 8. London: Henry Graves. pp. 239–40. ↩
Philip Ward-Jackson (2003). Public Sculpture of Britain Volume 7: Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool University Press / Public Monuments & Sculpture Association. ISBN0-85323-977-0. ↩↩2
Ian Chilvers (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-860476-9. ↩↩2↩3
Jo Darke (1991). The Monument Guide to England and Wales. Macdonald Illustrated. ISBN0-356-17609-6. ↩
Charles Kendall Adams (ed.). Johnson's Universal Cyclopædia: A New Edition. Vol. 8. p. 717. ("Westmacott, Sir Richard M.A." entry revised by Russell Sturgis) (found in this Google book search) ↩