Sir Thomas Brock (1 March 184722 August 1922) was an English sculptor and
medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
His most famous work is the
Victoria Memorial in front of
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
, London.
Other commissions included the redesign of the effigy of Queen Victoria on British coinage, the massive bronze equestrian statue of
Edward, the Black Prince, in
City Square, Leeds and the completion of the statue of
Prince Albert on the
Albert Memorial.
Biography
Brock was born on 1 March 1847 in
Worcester.
He was the only son of a painter and decorator and attended the Government School of Design in Worcester, after which he undertook an apprenticeship in modelling at the
Worcester Royal Porcelain Works.
In 1866 he became a pupil of the sculptor
John Henry Foley and also enrolled in the
Royal Academy Schools
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
, where he won a gold medal for sculpture in 1869.
He met and befriended Frederic, Lord Leighton, whose emphasis on realism and naturalism in sculpture led Brock to become part of the New Sculpture movement and to develop his talent for sympathetic and realistic portraiture.
After Foley's sudden death in 1874, Brock finished several of his commissions, including the monument to Daniel O'Connell in Dublin and a large bronze equestrian statue of Lord Canning for Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
. It was his completion of Foley's statue of Prince Albert for the Albert Memorial which first brought Brock to prominence and secured his position as an establishment sculptor. He also assisted in the casting of Lord Leighton's greatly influential 1877 sculpture '' An Athlete Wrestling with a Python''.
Brock was elected an associate of the Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
in 1883 and became a full member in 1891. He was a founding member, and the first president, of the Society of British Sculptors.
Brock's group ''The Moment of Peril'' (now in the garden of Leighton House) was followed by ''The Genius of Poetry'', at the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen. A plaster model for ''Eve'' was shown at the Royal Academy in 1898; a marble version (1900) is in the collection of the Tate and Brock also cast some smaller bronze replicas and other imaginative works that mark his development. His portrait works include busts, such as those of Lord Leighton and 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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
, statues, such as Sir Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...
and Henry Philpott, bishop of Worcester, and sepulchral monuments such as that of Lord Leighton in St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
.
Brock made statues of Victoria to celebrate her golden and diamond jubilees and also designed the depiction of her "veiled" or "widowed" head, used on all gold, silver and bronze coinage between 1893 and 1901.
In 1901 Brock won the commission to make a colossal equestrian statue of '' Edward the Black Prince'' for Leeds City Square. The same year, he was given perhaps his most significant commission, the vast multi-figure Imperial Memorial to Queen Victoria, to be erected in front of Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
. The unveiling of this memorial took place on 16 May 1911, and according to legend King George V was so moved by the excellence of the memorial that he called for a sword and knighted Brock on the spot. In any event, it was on the same day that the Lord Chamberlain’s Office notified '' The London Gazette'' that the king had ordered that Brock be appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...
.
From 1914 to 1919 Brock returned to the post of president of the Society of British Sculptors.
Brock married in 1869 and had eight children. He died in London on 22 August 1922 and is buried at Mayfield, East Sussex.
Public monuments
1875–1889
1890–1899
1900–1909
1910–1919
1920 and later
Other works
* Equestrian bronze ''A Moment of Peril'', 1880, now in the collection of Tate Britain.
* Marble statue on a pedestal of Sorabjee Shapurjee Bengallee, 1898, south-east corner of the Oval, Fort, Mumbai
* The Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
in London holds several bronze castings made from the original 1901 clay models of the Victoria Memorial plus later, small-scale, versions of the supporting groups that differ from those on the completed monument.
* Marble bust for India of Darasha Ruttonjee Chichgur, 1903, current location unknown
* Bronze statue of Queen Victoria, erected 1904 at Cawnpore and now in the Uttar Pradesh State Museum, Lucknow. Thought to be a cast of the design Brock used for his statues of the Queen at Agra, Hove, Brisbane and Carlise.
* Statue of Queen Victoria, Agra
Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...
, 1905, removed to storage in Mathura after the 1947 independence of India. The statue was originally on a pedestal with bronze figures of ''Truth'' and ''Justice'' at the base and located on a marble platform in an ornamental lake. The supporting figures are now missing.
* Marble bust of Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, 1915, Jehangir Public Hall, India
* Marble seated statue on a pedestal of Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, shown at the Royal Academy in 1916 and subsequently erected near the Victoria Terminus in Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
* Statue of George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe, erected 1919, inside the entrance to the Science Institute College, Mumbai
* Statue of Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...
at the Royal Academy in Burlington House, London.
* Bust of Henry Lee, in the hall of the Royal College of Surgeons
The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...
, London
* Busts of Henry W. Longfellow at Grand Pre, Nova Scotia
* Busts of Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
and Frederic Leighton in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London.
See also
* List of statues of Queen Victoria (13 of the entries are by Brock)
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, Thomas
1847 births
1922 deaths
19th-century English male artists
20th-century English male artists
19th-century English sculptors
20th-century English sculptors
Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools
Artists from Worcester, England
Artists' Rifles soldiers
English male sculptors
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Royal Academicians