| John Flaxman | |
 |
|
| Born | 6 July 1755 York |
| Died | 7 December 1826 London |
| Nationality | British |
| Field | Sculpture and engraving |
| Movement | Classicism |
John Flaxman (6 July 1755 - 7 December 1826), was an English sculptor and draughtsman. Events 1044 - The Battle of Ménfő takes place 1189 - Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England Year 1755 ( MDCCLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or York ( is an historic Walled city sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways For the game see 1826 (board game. Year 1826 ( MDCCCXXVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it For the works or study of works from classical antiquity see Classics Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to Events 1044 - The Battle of Ménfő takes place 1189 - Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England Year 1755 ( MDCCLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways For the game see 1826 (board game. Year 1826 ( MDCCCXXVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Drawing is a Visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium
Contents |
Life
Early life
He was born in York. York ( is an historic Walled city sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. His father was also named John, after an ancestor who, according to family tradition, had fought for Parliament at the Battle of Naseby, and afterwards settled as a carrier or farmer in Buckinghamshire. The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. John Flaxman the father was well known as a moulder and seller of plaster casts at the sign of the Golden Head, New Street, Covent Garden, London. This article is on plaster copies made of sculptures and other objects Covent Garden (Pronunciation kɒvʌnt is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. His wife's maiden name was See, and John was their second son. Within six months of his birth the family returned to London. He was a sickly child, and his figure was high-shouldered, his head too large for his body. His mother died when he was nine, and his father re-married. He had little schooling, and was largely self-educated. He took delight in drawing and modelling from his father's stock-in-trade, and studied translations from classic literature in an effort to understand them.
Customers of his father took a fancy to the child, and helped him with books, advice, and later with commissions. Two particular admirers from his youth were the painter George Romney, and a cultivated clergyman, Mr Mathew, in whose house in Rathbone Place the young Flaxman used to meet the best "blue-stocking" society of the day and, among associates of his own age, the artists William Blake and Thomas Stothard, who became his closest friends. George Romney ( December 26, 1734 – November 15, 1802) Public collections of works Abbot Hall Art Gallery (Kendal William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker. Thomas Stothard ( 17 August 1755 - 27 April 1834) was an English painter and Engraver. He had already begun to work in clay as well as in pencil. At 12 years of age he won the first prize of the Society of Arts for a medallion, and became a public exhibitor in the gallery of the Free Society of Artists; at 15 he won a second prize from the Society of Arts and began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. This article refers to an art institution in London For other meanings of Royal Academy see Royal Academy (disambiguation. In the same year, 1770, he entered as an Academy student and won the silver medal. Not all of his artistic endeavours resulted in success however. In the competition for the gold medal of the Academy in 1772, Flaxman was defeated, the prize being awarded by the president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, to a competitor named Engleheart. Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA (16 July 1723 &ndash 23 February 1792 was the most important and influential of 18th century English painters Rather than being a discouragement, this episode seemed to help cure Flaxman of a tendency to conceit, about which Thomas Wedgwood said of him in 1775, "It is but a few years since he was a most supreme coxcomb. "
He continued to work diligently, both as a student and as an exhibitor at the Academy, with occasional attempts at painting. To the Academy he contributed a wax model of Neptune (1770); four portrait models in wax (1771); a terracotta bust, a wax figure of a child, an historical figure (1772); a figure of Comedy; and a relief of a Vestal (1773). Neptune (Neptūnus is the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto. Terra cotta ( Italian: "baked earth" is a Ceramic. Its uses include vessels water & waste water pipes and surface embellishment in Building construction During this period he received a commission from a friend of the Mathew family for a statue of Alexander the Great, but he was unable to obtain a regular income from private contracts. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' When he was 19 years old he was employed by Josiah Wedgwood and his partner Bentley, as a modeller of classic and domestic friezes, plaques, ornamental vessels and medallion portraits. Josiah Wedgwood ( July 12, 1730 - January 3, 1795, born Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent) was an English potter credited It was in these inventive jasper" and "basalt" ware compositions that the manufacturers of the age, who had conceived and perfected the style, earned their great reputation. Jasperware (or jasper ware is a form of pottery that has a stoneware body which is either white or colored which is noted for its matte finish Basalt (bəˈsɔːlt ˈbeisɔːlt ˈbæsɔːlt is a common Extrusive Volcanic rock.
In the same year, 1775, John Flaxman the elder moved from New Street to a bigger house at no. Year 1775 ( MDCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a 420 the Strand. For 12 years Flaxman junior lived chiefly by his work for the Wedgwood company. The beauty of the product is undeniable, and the skills which Flaxman acquired in the delicacies of modelling in low relief and on a minute scale were invaluable. By 1780 Flaxman had also begun to earn money by sculpting grave monuments. Year 1780 ( MDCCLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a His early memorial work included monuments for Thomas Chatterton in the church of St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol (1780), Mrs Morley in Gloucester Cathedral (1784), and the Rev. Thomas Chatterton ( November 20 1752 – August 24 1770) was an English poet and forger St Mary Redcliffe ( is a large Anglican Parish church located in the Redcliffe district of the English port city of Bristol, Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Undivided Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city T and Mrs Margaret Ball in Chichester Cathedral (1785). Chichester Cathedral in Chichester, West Sussex, England is an Anglican Cathedral. During the rest of Flaxman's career memorial bas-reliefs of this type made up the bulk of his output; and may be found in many churches throughout England. A bas-relief (baʁəljɛf in French; French for "low relief" derived from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is a Sculpture One example, the monument to George Steevens originally in St Matthais Old Church, is now to be found in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. George Steevens ( May 10, 1736 &ndash January 22, 1800) was an English Shakespearean commentator St Matthias Old Church is the modern name given to the Poplar Chapel built by the East India Company in 1654 in Poplar, one of the "Tower Hamlets" in the The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge and is located on Trumpington Street Cambridge, England. The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England His best monumental work is admired for its pathos and simplicity, and for the alliance of a truly Greek instinct for rhythmical design and composition with the spirit of domestic tenderness and innocence that is one of the secrets of the modern soul.
Marriage
In 1782, aged 27, Flaxman married Anne Denman, who assisted him throughout his career. Year 1782 ( MDCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common She was well-educated, and the devoted companion of her husband's fortunes and of his travels. They set up house in Wardour Street, and usually spent their summer holidays as guests of the poet Hayley, at Eartham in Sussex. Sussex is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. After five years, in 1787, they found themselves with means enough to travel, and set out for Rome, where they took up their quarters in the Via Felice. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Records of Flaxman's residence in Italy exist in the shape of drawings and studies. He stopped modelling for Wedgwood, but continued to direct the work of other modellers employed for the manufacture at Rome. He had intended to return after a stay of a little more than two years, but was detained by a commission for a marble group of a Fury of Athamas, a commission attended in the sequel with circumstances of infinite trouble and annoyance, from the notorious Comte-Evéque, Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol. Frederick Augustus Hervey 4th Earl of Bristol, PC ( 1 August 1730 &ndash 8 July 1803) known as The Earl-Bishop, was He did not, as it turned out, return until the summer of 1794, after an absence of seven years, having in the meantime executed another ideal commission (a "Cephalus and Aurora") for Thomas Hope, and having sent home models for several sepulchral monuments, including one in relief for the poet Mortimer Collins in Chichester cathedral, and one in the round for Lord Mansfield in Westminster Abbey. Henry Thomas Hope ( 30 August 1769 &ndash 3 February 1830 /1831 was a British author philosopher and art collector best known for his novel "Anastasius" Mortimer Collins ( 29 June, 1827 - 28 July, 1876) was an English writer and Novelist. Earl of Mansfield, in the County of Nottingham and Earl of Mansfield, of Caen Wood in the County of Middlesex are two titles in the Peerage of Great Britain that The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church
What gained Flaxman his general fame was not his work in sculpture proper, but those outline designs to the poets, in which he showed not only to what purpose he had made his own the principles of ancient design in vase paintings and bas reliefs, but also by what a natural affinity, better than all mere learning, he was bound to the ancients and belonged to them. The designs for the Iliad and Odyssey were commissioned by Mrs Hare Naylor; those for Dante by Hope; those for Aeschylus by Lady Spencer; they were all engraved by Piroli, not without considerable loss of the finer and more sensitive qualities of Flaxman's own lines. The Iliad ( Greek: Ἰλιάς (Ancient Ιλιάδα (Modern is together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient The Odyssey ( Greek: Ὀδύσσεια or Odússeia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. Aeschylus (ˈɛskɨləs or /ˈiːskɨləs/ Greek: Ασχύλος, Aischylos, 525 BC/524 BC 456 BC/455 BC was an ancient Greek Playwright
During their homeward journey the Flaxmans travelled through central and northern Italy. On their return they took a house in Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square. Immediately afterwards the sculptor published a spirited protest against the scheme already entertained by the Directory, and carried out two years later by Napoleon, of equipping at Paris a vast central museum of art with the spoils of conquered Europe. The Executive Directory ( Directoire exécutif) was a body of 5 single-male Directors that held executive power in France following Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe.
Later life
The rest of Flaxman's life was uneventful, and his work brought sufficient rewards and a good reputation, being praised by Antonio Canova, Schlegel and Henry Fuseli. August Wilhelm (later von) Schlegel ( September 8, 1767 &ndash May 12, 1845) was a German Poet, Henry Fuseli (in German Johann Heinrich Füssli; February 7, 1741 – April 16, 1825) was a British painter He took as his pupil a son of William Hayley's, who became ill and died. This was also the name of a 17th century rector of St Giles in the Fields and a contemporary architect b In 1797 he was made an associate of the Royal Academy. This article refers to an art institution in London For other meanings of Royal Academy see Royal Academy (disambiguation. Every year he exhibited work of one class or another: occasionally a public monument in the round, like those of Pasquale Paoli (1798) or Captain Montague (1802) for Westminster Abbey, of Sir William Jones for St Mary's College, Oxford (1797-1801), of Nelson or Howe for St Paul's Cathedral; more often memorials for churches, with symbolic Acts of Mercy or illustrations of Scripture texts, both commonly in low relief (1801), Miss Cromwell, Chichester (1800), Mrs Knight, Milton, Cambridge (1802), and many more; and these pious labours he would vary from time to time with a classical piece like those of his earliest predilection. Filippo Antonio Pasquale di Paoli ( Pascal Paoli, April 6, 1725 February 5, 1807 Sir William Jones ( September 28, 1746 &ndash April 27, 1794) was an English philologist and student of ancient India Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson 1st Viscount Nelson 1st Duke of Bronté, KB (29 September 1758– 21 October 1805 was a British Richard Howe 1st Earl Howe KG ( 8 March, 1726 &ndash 5 August, 1799) was a British Admiral, notable in particular St Paul's Cathedral, is the Anglican Cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, and the seat of the Bishop of London. Soon after his election as associate, he published a scheme, half grandiose, half childish, for a monument to be erected on Greenwich Hill, in the shape of a Britannia 200 ft. Britannia was the term originally used by the Romans to refer first to the British Isles, and later to the island of Great Britain. high, in honour of the naval victories of his country.
In 1800 he was elected a full Academician. Year -of the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar until Friday, but 12 days ahead since Saturday. During the peace of Amiens he went to Paris to see the despoiled treasures collected there, but bore himself according to the spirit of protest that was in him. The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended the hostilities between France and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The next event which makes any mark in his life is his appointment to a chair specially created for him by the Royal Academy, the chair of Sculpture: this took place in 1810. Year 1810 ( MDCCCX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year We have ample evidence of his thoroughness and judiciousness as a teacher in the Academy schools, and his professorial lectures have been often reprinted. With many excellent observations, and with one singular merit--that of doing justice, as in those days justice was hardly ever done, to the sculpture of the medieval schools--these lectures lack point and felicity of expression, just as they are reported to have lacked fire in delivery, and are somewhat heavy reading. The most important works that occupied Flaxman in the years next following this appointment were the monument to Mrs Baring in Micheldever church, the richest of all his monuments in relief (1805-1811); that for the Worsley family at Campsall church, Yorkshire, which is the next richest; those to Sir Joshua Reynolds for St Paul's (1807); to Captain Webbe for India (1810); to Captains Walker and Beckett for Leeds (1811); to Lord Cornwallis for Prince of Wales's Island (1812); and to Sir John Moore for Glasgow (1813). Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA (16 July 1723 &ndash 23 February 1792 was the most important and influential of 18th century English painters Sir John Moore, KB (13 November 1761 &ndash 16 January 1809 was a British soldier and General At this time the antiquarian world was much occupied with the vexed question of the merits of the Elgin marbles, and Flaxman was one of those whose evidence before the parliamentary commission had most weight in favour of the purchase which was ultimately effected in 1816. The Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Marbles, are a collection of Classical Greek Marble sculptures inscriptions and architectural members Year 1816 ( MDCCCXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year
After his Roman period he produced fewer outline designs for the engraver except three for William Cowper's translations of the Latin poems of John Milton (1810). William Cowper (pronounced " Cooper " ˈkuːpɚ (26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800was an English Poet and Hymnodist. John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and Other sets of outline illustrations drawn about the same time, but not published, were one for the Pilgrim's Progress, and one for a Chinese tale in verse, "The Casket", which he wrote himself for his family. The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published February 1678) is a Christian Allegory In 1817 we find him returning to his old practice of classical outline illustrations and publishing the happiest of all his series in that kind, the designs to Hesiod, excellently engraved by the sympathetic hand of Blake, Immediately afterwards he was much engaged designing for the goldsmiths--a testimonial cup in honour of John Kemble, and following that, the famous and beautiful (though quite un-Homeric) "Shield of Achilles". Hesiod ( Greek: Hesiodos) was an early Greek Poet and Rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BCE Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the "Achilleus" redirects here For the emperor with this name see Achilleus (emperor. Almost at the same time he undertook a frieze of "Peace, Liberty and Plenty," for the Duke of Bedford's sculpture gallery at Woburn Abbey, and an heroic group of Michael overthrowing Satan, for Lord Egremont's Petworth House. Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Mansion, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour His literary industry at the same time is shown by several articles on art and archaeology contributed to Rees's Encyclopaedia (1819-1820). Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos
Death
In 1820 Flaxman's wife died. Year 1820 ( MDCCCXX) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Her younger sister, Maria Denman, and his own sister, Maria Flaxman, continued to live with him, and he continued to work hard. In 1822 he delivered at the Academy a lecture in memory of his old friend and generous fellow-craftsman, Canova, then recently dead; in 1823 he received a visit from Schlegel, of which the latter wrote an account. From an illness occurring soon after this he recovered sufficiently to resume both work and exhibition, but on 3 December 1826, he caught cold in church, and died four days later, in his 72nd year. Events 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden, French For the game see 1826 (board game. Year 1826 ( MDCCCXXVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display Among a few intimate associates, he left a memory singularly dear; having been in companionship, although susceptible and obstinate when his religious creed--a devout Christianity with Swedenborgian admixtures--was crossed or slighted, yet in other things genial and sweet-tempered beyond most men, full of modesty and playfulness and withal of a homely dignity, a true friend and a kind master, a pure and blameless spirit. (born Emanuel Swedberg; February 8 1688–March 29 1772 was a Swedish Scientist, Philosopher, Christian mystic, and Theologian
Reception
Flaxman's complicated monuments in the round, such as the three in Westminster Abbey and the four in St Paul's Cathedral, are considered too "heavy"; but his simple monuments in relief are of finer quality. St Paul's Cathedral, is the Anglican Cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, and the seat of the Bishop of London. He thoroughly understood relief, and it gave better scope for his particular talents. His compositions are best studied in the casts from his studio sketches, of which a comprehensive collection is preserved in the Flaxman gallery at University College, London page), right. University College London ( UCL) is a multi-faculty university institution based in the United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London Going back to the rudiments and first conceptions of his art helps to realize the essential charm of his genius in the study, not of his modelled work at all, but of his sketches in pen and wash on paper. The principal public collections are at University College, in the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design housing a permanent collection
External links
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
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