British sculptor
Alexander Munro
Born (1825-10-26 ) 26 October 1825Died 1 January 1871(1871-01-01) (aged 45) Nationality British Occupation sculptor
Munro's sculpture of
Humphry Davy in the Oxford Museum of Natural History
Elizabeth Blakeway by Alexander Munro, 1859
Alexander Munro (26 October 1825 – 1 January 1871) was a British sculptor of the
Pre-Raphaelite movement. He concentrated on portraiture and statues, but is best known for his Rossetti-influenced figure-group Paolo and Francesca (1852), which has often been identified as the epitome of Pre-Raphaelite sculpture.
[1]
Lionel Cust described his work as "sketchy and wanting in strength, but full of refinement and true feeling."
[2]
Life
Munro was born at
Sutherland in Scotland.
[3] He was the son of a
stonemason , and his talents were supported by financial assistance from his father's employer, the
Duchess of Sutherland .
[3] From 1842 he assisted and trained in the Edinburgh studio of the sculptor
Alexander Handyside Ritchie . He came to London in 1848 to study sculpture and, under
Charles Barry , to work as a mason on the new
Palace of Westminster .
[3]
[2] He exhibited at the
Royal Academy from 1849 to 1870, and in the
Great Exhibition of 1851 .
[4] Between 1853 and 1865 Munro created a number of portrait busts of children for society families.
[3]
Munro was a close associate of
Thomas Woolner , the only sculptor to be a member of the original
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood . He was also friendly with
Dante Gabriel Rossetti . Munro is significant in the history of the movement since he is often cited as a contributor to the controversy over Pre-Raphaelitism in 1850, when he "leaked" the information that the group formed a secret brotherhood.
[4] In 1854, with Thomas Woolner,
Dante Gabriel Rossetti ,
Ford Madox Brown ,
Edward Burne-Jones ,
Lowes Cato Dickinson and
John Ruskin , Munro began teaching at the newly established
Working Men's College .
Munro's sculptures were noted for their formal simplicity. His most famous work was Paolo and Francesca , which was exhibited at the 1851 exhibition.
[4] It depicted the lovers as languid, dreamy and genteel, contributing to the popular image of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The final marble version is in
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery . The original plaster version of the sculpture is currently on display in
Wallington Hall , which also contains a portrait relief bust of
Pauline, Lady Trevelyan created by Munro.
He later created public sculptures for
Berkeley Square and
Hyde Park Corner , as well as several memorial statues. Six of the seventeen statues of scientists in the
Oxford University Museum of Natural History are his work, all produced circa 1860.
Munro suffered from ill health, and was struck down by a lung disease which slowly undermined his constitution. In his last years he and his wife lived in
Cannes , France, for his health,
[2] and this is where he died on New Year's Day 1871.
[3]
Family
Munro married one of the daughters of the journalist
Robert Carruthers , editor of the Inverness Courier . By her he had two sons, for one of whom
John Ruskin was godfather. His son
John Arthur Ruskin Munro , was later
Rector of
Lincoln College, Oxford .
[5]
Chronological list of principal works
Bust of
Josephine Butler
Bust of Mrs Banks exhibited at Royal Academy (1849)
Chimney-pieces for
Dunrobin Castle for the Duke of Sutherland (1849)
Bust of
John Loch at
Stoke College , Suffolk (1850)
Statue of
Francesca da Rimini for
William Gladstone (1852)
Medallion of Lady Constance Grosvenor, exhibited at Royal Academy (1853)
Sculpture group of The Ingram Children for
Herbert Ingram (1853)
Bust of
Sir Robert Peel at
Oldham (1854)
Medallion of Lady Alwyne Compton exhibited at Royal Academy (1854)
Medallion of
John Everett Millais for the
Ashmolean Museum ,
Oxford (1854)
Bust of
William Gladstone exhibited at Royal Academy (1855)
Medallion of
Henry Wellesley for the
Ashmolean Museum ,
Oxford (1856)
Sculpture group of The Gladstone Children at
Hawarden , home of
William Ewart Gladstone (1856)
Bust of
Henry Acland at
Bodleian Library ,
Oxford (1857)
Statue of
Undine exhibited at Art Treasures Exhibition,
Manchester (1857)
Bust of Adelaide Ristori exhibited at Royal Academy (1858)
Sculpture group of The Gathorne Hardy Children (1859)
Medallion of Mrs Tom Hughes exhibited at the Royal Academy (1859)
Bust of
Louis Huth exhibited at the Royal Academy (1860)
Bust of Helen Huth exhibited at the Royal Academy (1860)
Medallion of
Benjamin Woodward for
Oxford University 's University Museum (1860)
Bust of
Lord Ashburton exhibited at Royal Academy (1860)
Bust of
Sir William Armstrong for
Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne (1860)
Bust of Frederick Robb for Major Eustace Robb (1861)
Sculpture group of The Matheson Children (1861)
Statue entitled Mother's Joy exhibited at the Royal Academy (1861)
Statue of
Herbert Ingram at
Boston, Lincolnshire (1862)
Statue of
Mary II for the
Houses of Parliament now the Central Criminal Court (1863)
Statues of
James Watt ,
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz ,
Hippocrates ,
Sir Isaac Newton ,
Galileo and
Sir Humphry Davy for the
Oxford Museum , (1863)
Sculpture group of The Crompton Roberts Children for
Charles Henry Crompton-Roberts (1865)
Fountain in
Berkeley Square London (1865)
Boy with a Dolphin
References
^
Benedict Read , "Was There a Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture?", Pre-Raphaelite Papers , Tate Gallery, 1984, 97-110.
^
a
b
c
Cust, Lionel (1894).
"Munro, Alexander" . In
Lee, Sidney (ed.).
Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
^
a
b
c
d
e James Mackay (1977). The Dictionary of Western Sculptors in Bronze . Antique Collectors' Club.
ISBN
0902028553 .
^
a
b
c
Benedict Read , Victorian Sculpture , New Haven:
Yale University Press , 1982.
^
The Long Engagement — Compositional Sketch and Sketch of Clasped Hands / Study of a reclining Woman ,
Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource
Archived 29 May 2009 at the
Wayback Machine .
External links
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