Henry Hugh Armstead (18 June 18284 December 1905) was an English sculptor and illustrator, influenced by the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jame ...

Biography

Armstead was born at

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest ...

in central London, the son of John Armstead, a chaser and heraldic engraver. He trained first under his father, then at the Government School of Design at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

and afterwards at private art schools. He also studied with Edward Hodges Baily. At the age of eighteen Armstead went to work for the silversmiths Hunt and Roskell. The works he later made there included the ''Kean Testimonial'', a set of nine pieces of silver presented to the actor

Charles Kean Charles John Kean (18 January 181122 January 1868), was an English actor and theatre manager, best known for his revivals of Shakespearean plays. Life Kean was born at Waterford, Ireland, a son of actor Edmund Kean and actress Mary Kean ('' ...

, and the ''Outram Shield'' (1862), made for presentation to Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram. He both made the clay models for the objects and chased the cast silver. In the late 1850s Armstead was commissioned to make a statue, in Caen stone, of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

for the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...

. After this he increasingly concentrated on sculpture rather than metalwork. He designed a set of friezes for the exterior of Eatington Hall, as part of its remodelling in 1858–1862; they were carved by Edward Clarke, Commissions for work at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north b ...

, and the

Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial, directly north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens, London, was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic R ...

helped Armstead to establish his reputation. He subsequently executed a large number of public statues, funerary works and other architectural schemes. At the Palace of Westminster Armstead carved eighteen oak panels in the Queens's Robing Room illustrating the legend of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...

beneath a series of murals by

William Dyce William Dyce (; 19 September 1806 in Aberdeen14 February 1864) was a Scottish painter, who played a part in the formation of public art education in the United Kingdom, and the South Kensington Schools system. Dyce was associated with the Pre-R ...

. Armstead worked closely with

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

on the Albert memorial from an early stage in the design process, making small scale models of the projected sculptural groups for Scott's architectural model. When it came to the sculpture on the actual monument, he was chosen to make half of the

Frieze of Parnassus The Frieze of Parnassus is a large sculpted stone frieze encircling the podium, or base, of the Albert Memorial in London, England. The Albert Memorial was constructed in the 1860s in memory of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. The f ...

, a representation of 169 major cultural figures carved out of hard Canpanella marble. Armstead carved the poets and musicians and artists on the south side of the monument, and the painters on the east. The other two sides were executed by

John Birnie Philip John Birnie Philip (23 November 1824 – 2 March 1875) was a nineteenth-century English sculptor. Much of his work was carried out for the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. Life Philip was born in London, the son of William and Elizabeth Ph ...

. Armstead took great care over the details of the subjects, asking surviving friends of Goethe, Beethoven and Mendelsohn for advice, and working from

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

death-mask A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits. It i ...

. The sculpture was carved ''in situ'', out of blocks already installed in the podium of the monument, rather than in the studio. The relief was completed, and the sculptors' temporary sheds removed, in 1872. Armstead also made some of the bronze statues symbolising the sciences on the upper levels of the memorial; the others were by Philip. With

, Armstead worked on the external sculptural decorations of Scott's

colonial office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

. Armstead also sculpted the large fountain at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

(1874–1879), incorporating a statue of its founder, Henry IV, and numerous effigies, such as Bishop Wilberforce at

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, and

Lord John Thynne Rev. Lord John Thynne (7 November 1798 – 9 February 1881) was an English aristocrat and Anglican cleric, who served for 45 years as Deputy Dean of Westminster. Career Lord John was born in 1798, the third son of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. Armstead was elected an Associate of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1875 and a full member in 1880. In 1884 he was chosen to sculpt a monument to

Archibald Campbell Tait Archibald Campbell Tait (21 December 18113 December 1882) was an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England and theologian. He was the first Scottish Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, head of the Church of England. Life Tait was bo ...

the late

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

for the south transept of

. Armstead was living at 44 St Paul's Road, Camden in 1865. He Lived at 57 Camden Square from 1871 to 1883. He died at his home 52 Circus Road,

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

in north London on 4 December 1905 and is buried in a family grave on the west side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

. Nearby in the west Cemetery is one of his works, in the

Julius Beer Julius Beer (1836–1880) was a German-born English businessman, banker and newspaper baron. He owned ''The Observer'' from 1870 to 1880. Biography Early life Julius Beer was born in 1836 in Frankfurt, Germany. Career Beer made his fortun ...

Mausoleum - a sculpture of Ada Beer, Julius's young daughter, in the arms of an angel.

Gallery

File:20130808 Kings College Front Court Fountain.jpg, Armstead's 1879 fountain in the Front Court of

File:Stockbridge Cup.png, The Stockbridge Cup, designed by Armstead as the prize for a horse race at Nottingham File:Henry Hugh Armstead - Buste de Mrs Hugh Wells Armstead.jpeg, Bust of Mrs. Hugh Wells File:EB1911 Plate III. v24, pg.504, Fig 5.jpg, Statue of Lieutenant Waghorn File:Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, bronze lectern.jpg,

Holy Trinity, Sloane Street The Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity with Saint Jude, Upper Chelsea, commonly called Holy Trinity Sloane Street or Holy Trinity Sloane Square, is a Church of England parish church in London, England. It was built in 1888–90 at the ...

, bronze lectern File:Exeter - Guildhall 20151023-12.jpg, Interior of

Exeter Guildhall Exeter Guildhall on the High Street of Exeter, Devon, England has been the centre of civic government for the city for at least 600 years. Much of the fabric of the building is medieval, though the elaborate frontage was added in the 1590s ...

: bust of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

File:Family grave of Henry Hugh Armstead in Highgate Cemetery.jpg, Family grave of Henry Hugh Armstead in

Notes

References

External links

*
H H Armstead online
(ArtCyclopedia)

(RA collections)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstead, Henry Hugh 1828 births 1905 deaths 19th-century English sculptors 19th-century English male artists British architectural sculptors Burials at Highgate Cemetery English male painters English male sculptors English illustrators People from Bloomsbury Pre-Raphaelite illustrators Pre-Raphaelite sculptors Royal Academicians Sculptors from London

Biography

Gallery

Notes

References

Further reading

External links