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John Flaxman - Antique Bearded Head

Antique Bearded Head

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
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License: All public domain files can be freely used for personal and commercial projects.
Why is this image in the public domain?
The Artist died in 1826 so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries where the copyright term is the Artist's life plus 70 years or fewer.
John Flaxman

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.

More Artworks by John Flaxman (View all 126 Artworks)

Hercules Fighting the Lion, Roman Sarcophagus Relief on Garden Façade, Villa Medici, Rome

Hercules Fighting the Lion, Roman Sarcophagus Relief on Garden Façade, Villa Medici, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Back View of a Woman with Child Looking Over Her Shoulder

Back View of a Woman with Child Looking Over Her Shoulder

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Mrs. Siddons kneeling with child

Mrs. Siddons kneeling with child (1783)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
A Roman Throne, Palazzo Mattei, and Spoils of War at Palazzo Altieri, Rome

A Roman Throne, Palazzo Mattei, and Spoils of War at Palazzo Altieri, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Hercules on Mount Oeta

Hercules on Mount Oeta (1879)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Design for a Medal Representing Saint George and the Dragon

Design for a Medal Representing Saint George and the Dragon

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Two Winged Putti Fighting for the Palm, Eros and Anteros

Two Winged Putti Fighting for the Palm, Eros and Anteros (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Design for a Candelabrum Representing the Three Graces Gathering the Apples of Hesper

Design for a Candelabrum Representing the Three Graces Gathering the Apples of Hesper (c. 1809)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Illustration to Pilgrim’s Progress

Illustration to Pilgrim’s Progress (1792)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
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)
Niobe and Her Youngest Daughter in Profile, Niobid Group, Villa Medici Gardens, Rome

Niobe and Her Youngest Daughter in Profile, Niobid Group, Villa Medici Gardens, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Bust of a Bearded Man Looking Up

Bust of a Bearded Man Looking Up

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Head of a Woman (Theresa Turner)

Head of a Woman (Theresa Turner)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Hercules Fighting the Lion, Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome

Hercules Fighting the Lion, Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
Christ in the Storm, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence

Christ in the Storm, from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors, Florence (1787)

John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826)
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