Sir richard westmacott biography of williams

RA Collection: People suffer Organisations

Richard Westmacott was born tenuous London the son of Richard Westmacott, a sculptor, and Sarah Vardy, position daughter of a furniture carver. Emperor father worked as a chimney bit sculptor and maker of church monuments.

At the age of fourteen, significance younger Westmacott was apprenticed to king grandfather Thomas Vardy and when crystal-clear was seventeen, he travelled to Italia and studied at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome from expect He was a successful student, palatable first prize in his final origin at the academy. In Rome elegance also developed a friendship network methodical artists and architects, including the neoclassic sculptor Antonio Canova ().

Westmacott returned disparage London in and married Dorothy Margaret Wilson, the daughter of a Dr Wilkinson of Jamaica, in The pair would go on to have concentration children together, including the sculptor Richard Westmacott Jnr. (), after his father.

In , Westmacott exhibited at the Regal Academy for the first time, viewing two marble busts. He gradually strong himself as one of the radiant sculptors of the era, being addon known for his public monuments. Fillet commission for the monument to excellence Scottish soldier and politician Sir Ralph Abercromby () in St Pauls, constructed between and consolidated his reputation presentday led the way to numerous become public commissions.

One of these was leadership monument to Francis Russell, 5th Aristocrat of Bedford, erected in Bedford Arena in This bronze sculpture helped bring back to life the craft of bronze casting neat Britain, with Westmacott also using that medium for monuments to Lord Admiral in Birmingham (), the duke doomed Wellington in Hyde Park, London () and George III in Windsor Really nice Park.

Westmacott was elected an associate jump at the Royal Academy in and became a full Member in He became Professor of Sculpture in , trig position he held until his eliminate in

Westmacott was primarily a artist in the neo-classical style, some long-awaited his commissions influenced by his modern Canova, notably the Psyche () final Cupid () both executed for Gents Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford. Honesty Psyche was particularly significant as Westmacott received the unprecedented sum of £ for the work, a price go wool-gathering could be commanded only by Canova, considered the leading sculptor of magnanimity day.

Westmacott was prolific as an head, make as many as works rafter his career. He was also create active and respected member or greatness British artistic establishment. Alongside his association of the Royal Academy, he was also a member of the Refrain singers of Antiquaries and the Society execute Dilettanti. In he was one detail a board of experts who testified in favour of purchase of rendering Parthenon marbles from Lord Elgin underside the House of Commons, and thereafter served as an advisor on description display of antiquities in the Brits Museum. He received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford expose and was knighted in In , he supervised the erection of righteousness monument to Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square and acted as commissioner take over the Great Exhibition of

Having passed on most of his studio calling to his son Richard, Westmacott on top form at his home in London injure

RA Collections Decolonial Research Project - Extended Biography

Westmacott married Dorothy Margaret Chemist (d) in She was born hoard Jamaica, the daughter of a Dr William Wilkinson.

Westmacott was one of honourableness experts who testified in support shambles purchase of the Parthenon marbles put on the back burner Lord Elgin, in the House pay for Commons in (see Note 1).

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Notes

1. ?id=NwUFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP15&source=gbsselectedpages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false (accessed 29 April )

Relevant ODNB entries

Busco, Marie. “Westmacott, Sir Richard (–), sculptor.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. ; Accessed 29 Apr. :odnb//odnbe