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John Flaxman
John Flaxman

John Flaxman

English, 1755-1826
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John Flaxman was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several years in Rome, where he produced his first book illustrations. He was a prolific maker of funerary monuments.

He was born in York. His father, also named John (1726–1803), was well known as a moulder and seller of plaster casts at the sign of the Golden Head, New Street, Covent Garden, London. His wife's maiden name was Lee, and they had two children, William and John. Within six months of John's birth the family returned to London. He was a sickly child, high-shouldered, with a head too large for his body. His mother died when he was nine, and his father remarried. 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 classical literature in an effort to understand them.

His father's customers helped him with books, advice, and later with commissions. Particularly significant were the painter George Romney, and a cultivated clergyman, Anthony Stephen Mathew and his wife Mrs. Mathew, in whose house in Rathbone Place the young Flaxman used to meet the best "blue-stocking" society of the day and, among those his own age, the artists William Blake and Thomas Stothard, who became his closest friends. At the age of 12 he won the first prize of the Society of Arts for a medallion, and exhibited in the gallery of the Free Society of Artists; at 15 he won a second prize from the Society of Arts showed at the Royal Academy for the first time. In the same year, 1770, he entered the Academy as a student and won the silver medal. In the competition for the gold medal of the Academy in 1772, however, Flaxman was defeated, the prize being awarded by the president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, to a competitor named Engleheart. This episode seemed to help cure Flaxman of a tendency to conceit which led Thomas Wedgwood V to say 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.

126 items

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Psyche, A Daughter of Niobe from the Niobid Group, Uffizi, Florence

Psyche, A Daughter of Niobe from the Niobid Group, Uffizi, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Puck. Aye, there it is

Puck. Aye, there it is (1783)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Roma, in the Villa Medici Gardens, Rome

Roma, in the Villa Medici Gardens, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Study for a Monument to the Reverend John Clowes

Study for a Monument to the Reverend John Clowes (ca. 1820)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Study of Day by Michalengelo, Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence

Study of Day by Michalengelo, Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Study of Night by Michelangelo, Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence

Study of Night by Michelangelo, Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Study of Niobe and Her Youngest Daughter from the Right, Niobid Group, Villa Medici Gardens, Rome

Study of Niobe and Her Youngest Daughter from the Right, Niobid Group, Villa Medici Gardens, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Study of Niobe With Her Youngest Daughter, from the Niobid Group, Villa Medici Gardens, Rome

Study of Niobe With Her Youngest Daughter, from the Niobid Group, Villa Medici Gardens, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Suburban Tomb Monument with Marble Altar on Top, On the Road Between Rome and Tivoli

Suburban Tomb Monument with Marble Altar on Top, On the Road Between Rome and Tivoli (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Adoration of the Magi, a Design for Bas Relief

The Adoration of the Magi, a Design for Bas Relief

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Apotheosis of Antonius Pius and Faustina, Column of Antonius Pius, Piazza Montecitorio, Rome

The Apotheosis of Antonius Pius and Faustina, Column of Antonius Pius, Piazza Montecitorio, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Calydonian Boar Hunt, Meleager Sarcophagus, Vatican, Rome

The Calydonian Boar Hunt, Meleager Sarcophagus, Vatican, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Creation of Eve, Campanile of the Florence Duomo

The Creation of Eve, Campanile of the Florence Duomo (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Crucifixion, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence

The Crucifixion, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Expulsion of the Money Changers, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence

The Expulsion of the Money Changers, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpent, Uffizi, Florence

The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpent, Uffizi, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Judgement of Paris, Villa Doria Pamphili, Outside Rome

The Judgement of Paris, Villa Doria Pamphili, Outside Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Left-hand Horse Tamer, Piazza del Quirinale, Monte Cavallo, Rome

The Left-hand Horse Tamer, Piazza del Quirinale, Monte Cavallo, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite, Palazzo Lancellotti, Rome

The Marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite, Palazzo Lancellotti, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Nativity, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence

The Nativity, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Raising of Lazarus, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence

The Raising of Lazarus, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Reverend Anthony Stephen Mathew

The Reverend Anthony Stephen Mathew

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Right-hand Horse Tamer, Piazza del Quirinale, Monte Cavallo, Rome

The Right-hand Horse Tamer, Piazza del Quirinale, Monte Cavallo, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
The Transfiguration, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence

The Transfiguration, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Three Male Figures, Three-quarter Length

Three Male Figures, Three-quarter Length (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Titania. Not for thy Kingdom.–Fairies, away;—

Titania. Not for thy Kingdom.–Fairies, away;— (1783)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
To Phoebus at His Birth, From Aeschylus, Furies

To Phoebus at His Birth, From Aeschylus, Furies (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence

Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Two Studies of The Seated Satyr and Nymph, Villa Ludovisi, Rome

Two Studies of The Seated Satyr and Nymph, Villa Ludovisi, Rome (1783)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
Two Studies of the Throne of Gregory the Great, Church of San Gregorio Magno, Rome

Two Studies of the Throne of Gregory the Great, Church of San Gregorio Magno, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Drawings
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