W. H. THORNYCROFT A.R.A.

W. H. THORNYCROFT A.R.A.

Biographical sketch of William Hamo Thornycroft

c. 1884

Frederick George Stephens (1828-1907), author and editor

F. G. Stephens, Artists at Home, photographed by J. P. Mayall and reproduced in facsimile by photoengraving on copper plates; edited, with biographical notes and descriptions, by Frederick George Stephens (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington; New York: Appleton & Co., 1884), pp. 49-51.

Thornycroft, William Hamo (1850-1925), English sculptor

June 1884

Born in London on March 9, 1850, Thornycroft came from a large family of sculptors from Cheshire. He enrolled in the Royal Academy as a student in 1869, and debuted there as an artist in 1872 with a bust of Professor Sharpey and a portrait in relief of Mrs. Mordant. Having traveled to Italy, he gained his admiration for the antique from the works of Michelangelo. His sculpture of Artemis, completed in 1880, was considered superior to any of his previous works. In 1883, Thornycroft sculpted what was deemed to be his best work: a statue of The Mower.

Edmund Gosse, "Our Living Artists: Hamo Thornycroft, ARA," The Magazine of Art 4 (1881): 328–32.

The online edition of this work in the public domain, i.e., not protected by copyright, has been produced by the National Gallery of Art.

NGA_Thornycroft.pdf

Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Omeka record contributed by Vanessa Pike

September 29, 2016

December 9, 2016

MR. W. HAMO THORNYCROFT, A.R.A.

ALL the authorities agree that this distinguished sculptor was born in London on the 9^th of March, 1850.  He is one of the younger members of a family of artists whose parents were successful sculptors.  His father was an almost unfailing contributor to the Royal Academy Exhibitions from 1830 to 1874, and his mother (born Mary, daughter of Mr. John Francis, a sculptor of repute since 1820) had attained distinction long before her son now in question was born.  The Thornycroft family came from Cheshire, and was of good social position.  My subject was educated in the Grammar School at Macclesfield, and in the school of University College, London.  There he remained four years, and, later, he spent some time in the college proper.  After this, determining to follow the profession of his father and mother, in whose ateliers, without becoming a regular pupil, he had already worked with some éclat, the tyro entered the Royal Academy as a student in 1869.  Diligence and natural gifts assured his progress, so that, in December, 1870, he obtained a silver medal for a restoration, and, in the same year, a second similar medal for a model from the antique.  He combined work at Burlington House and in his father’s studio, and assisted the latter artist in several commissions, of which the fountain in Park Lane is the most important.  Mr. Gosse, who supplied some of these details of his friend’s career, has told the world that the figures of “Comedy,” “Shakespeare,” and “Fame” blowing a trumpet, which pertain to this fountain, are entirely due to the younger artist.  This studio work was continued during two or three years.

            In 1872 Mr. Hamo Thornycroft’s début was made at the Royal Academy by means (1) of a bust of “Professor Sharpey,” one of the more distinguished members of University College, London; and (2) a portrait in relief of “Mrs. Mordant.”  In this year the student won the Academy silver medal for a drawing from the life, and he went to Italy, where, naturally enough, his previous studies having been chiefly directed to the antique, he was much impressed by the genius of Michael Angelo.  In 1873, “Fame,” as above, appeared at the Academy.  In 1874, a statuette of Lord Mayo on horseback, designed, I believe, in competition for an Indian commission, was at the same place, and attracted {50} those who searched the sculpture galleries for meritorious productions, as well as other observers to whom the bruit of the schools and the young artist’s friends had carried the name of the “sculptor of the future.”  With “Lord Mayo” we had at the Exhibition a bust of “Dr. Mouat.”

            1875, when Mr. Thornycroft did not exhibit, was distinguished in the annals of the Royal Academy as the year in which a gold medal was to be awarded for a design in sculpture produced in competition.  According to the regulations of the body, the Council indicated the subject for the contest, and selected “A Warrior bearing a Wounded Youth from Battle.”  Greek reliefs afforded several capital illustrations of this theme, and showed the just method for treating it; but Mr. Thornycroft’s vigorous interpretation, to which the prize was given, was his own, and commanded the admiration of his judges and competitors.  This admiration was generally shared when, in 1876, the laureated example was exhibited in Burlington House.  A bust of “F. Tagart, Esq.” accompanied it.  The “Warrior” has been reproduced by the Art Union of London as a standing prize for its subscribers.

            1877 was a blank year at the Academy, so far as Mr. Thornycroft was concerned.  We were in 1878 more than compensated for this abstention by the display of a statue of “Lot’s Wife,” looking back at the instant of transformation, which added greatly to the reputation of its author, and compelled all to look forward to his next year’s doings.  A bust was exhibited with it.  “Stepping Stones,” a group in marble, came forth in 1879, and represented a girl carrying her little brother in her arms.  It was, we are told, an early work.  A better instance was a sketch for a statue of “Dr. William Harvey,” discoverer of the circulation of the blood, which accompanied the group at the Academy.  Far more effective than anything he had done before was the “Artemis” of 1880, a statue of the “Goddess of the Silver Bow” while hunting, attended by a dog, and in the act of drawing an arrow from a quiver slung over her shoulder.  With it appeared a bust of “Sir Arthur Cotton,” and a very energetic and clever statuette in bronze representing an athlete “Putting the Stone.”  The smaller example attested the spontaneity and energy of the artist’s conceptions with greater power than its companion work.

            If elections to the A.R.A.ship had been invariably secured by the merits of the chosen artist, Mr. Thornycroft need not have waited till January 20, 1881, for the less dignified Academical honour.  As it happened however, he was, in company with Mr. F. Dicksee,[1] elected on that day.  A statue of “Teucer,” standing erect, with his feet placed side by side, and still holding at arm’s length the bow from which an arrow had flown, was one of the noteworthy elements of the Exhibition of 1881.  There was no question of the  {51} noble qualities of the marble statue of “Artemis” we all admired in the Exhibition of 1882; it showed a grand advance on the design of the same subject which has been already mentioned.  With it appeared a statuette in bronze of the Earl of Beaconsfield, and the bronze reproduction of the above-named “Teucer,” which the Academicians bought with the Chantrey Fund and have deposited at South Kensington.  1883 gave us in Burlington House five works by Mr. Thornycroft, of which the more important was a charming statuette of “Miss R. Sassoon,” instinct with its purpose to suggest “A Sonata of Beethoven.”  The present year has produced the sculptor’s best work, in the statue of “The Mower.”

 

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