Hamo Thornycroft

Sir Hamo Thornycroft RA
William Hamo Thornycroft, 1884 byTheodore Blake Wirgman
Born	(1850-03-09)9 March 1850 London, England
Died	18 December 1925(1925-12-18)(aged 75) Oxford,England
Occupation	Artist
Known for	Sculpture

Sir William Hamo ThornycroftRA(9 March 1850 – 18 December 1925) was an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including thestatue of Oliver Cromwelloutside the Palace of Westminster.He was a keen student of classical sculpture and was one of the youngest artists to be elected to theRoyal Academy,in 1882, the same year the bronze cast ofTeucerwas purchased for the British nation under the auspices of theChantrey Bequest.

He was a leading figure in the establishment of theNew Sculpturemovement, which provided a transition between the neoclassical styles of the 19th century and latermodernistdevelopments.

Biography

Early life and education

Stepping Stones,Kibble Palace,Glasgow

William Hamo Thornycroft was born in London into theThornycroft familyof sculptors. Both his parents,ThomasandMary,and his grandfather, John, were distinguished sculptors.As a young child, Hamo was sent to live with an uncle on a farm in Cheshire until, aged nine, he began studying at the Modern Free Grammar School inMacclesfield,before in 1863 returning to London as a pupil at theUniversity College School.He subsequently, from 1869, studied at theRoyal Academy,where his primary influence was the painter-sculptorFrederic Leighton.While a student, Thornycroft assisted his father, Thomas, on the monumental sculptural groupBoadicea and Her Daughters,later installed beside Westminster Bridge in London.At the Royal Academy Schools, Hamo Thornycroft won two medals and obtained his first paid commission for a work, a bust of a Dr. Sharpey.

In 1871, Thornycroft visited Italy and Paris and assisted his parents in creating thePoets' FountainforPark Lanein London, by making several figures of poets in marble and bronze.The fountain was subsequently destroyed in the Second World War.During the first half of the 1870s he exhibited works on a regular basis at the Royal Academy, showingFame,the Sharpey bust, a bust of Mrs Mordaunt and a model for an equestrian statue ofLord Mayo.In 1876 Thornycroft won the Gold Medal of the Royal Academy with the statueWarrior Bearing a Wounded Youth.

Early career

Thornycroft created a series of statues in the ideal genre in the late 1870s and early 1880s that sought to reanimate the format of the classical statue.These includedLot's Wife(1878) andArtemisand her Hound(1880 plaster, 1882 marble).In 1880 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy,and produced the Homeric bowmanTeucer(1881 plaster, 1882 bronze), and theMower(1884 plaster, 1894 bronze), arguably the first life-size freestanding statue of a contemporary labourer in 19th-century sculpture.BothArtemis and her HoundandTeucercombined classical compositions with a increased sense of naturalism to imply movement and energy.A companion piece to theMower,theSower,was exhibited in 1886 at the Royal Academy.When, in 1894, the criticEdmund Gossecoined the term "TheNew Sculpture",he formulated its early principles from Thornycroft's work.

After 1884, Thornycroft's reputation was secure and he won commissions for a number of major monuments, most notably the innovativeGeneral GordoninTrafalgar Squareand since moved toVictoria Embankment Gardens.Other significant works he created included an effigy ofHarvey Goodwin,Bishop of Carlisle (1895;Carlisle Cathedral),and the statues ofOliver Cromwell(Westminster),Dean Colet(a bronze group, early Italianate in feeling, outsideSt Paul's School,formerly in Hammersmith and now in Barnes, London),Alfred the Great(Winchester), theGladstone Memorial(in theStrand,London) andMandell Creighton,Bishop of London (bronze, erected inSt Paul's Cathedral). Other significant memorials were built in several cities then in theBritish Empire.

Architectural work

TheInstitute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales(ICAEW) Council commissioned Thornycroft to produce a detailed sculpted frieze for their headquarters atChartered Accountants' Hallfor a cost of £3,000.Thornycroft's frieze, carved between 1889 and 1893, includes a series of figures representing Arts, Sciences, Crafts, Education, Commerce, Manufacture, Agriculture, Mining, Railways, Shipping, India, the Colonies, and Building.The figure of the architect is based on the Hall's architect,John Belcher,and the sculptor on Thornycroft himself. The figure of the solicitor is H. Markby of Markby, Stewart & Co., who acted for ICAEW in its early years.

Later works

Thornycroft continued to be a central member of the sculptural establishment and the Royal Academy into the 20th century. He was awarded the medal of honour at the 1900Paris Exhibition,and wasknightedin 1917.In 1901, he began a series of small bronze statuettes for the home market while continuing to work on large commissions. His single largest work, the monument toLord Curzon,was unveiled inCalcuttain 1913.

Thornycroft exhibitedThe Kiss,a large ideal piece he had worked on for three years, at the Royal Academy in 1916, and received a standing ovation from his fellow artists when it was unveiled. He was awarded the first gold medal bestowed by theRoyal Society of British Sculptorsin 1924, although he had previously, in 1908, declined the offer of the presidency of that body.Thornycroft's last major work was the tomb effigy of BishopHuyshe Yeatman-Biggswhich was shown at the Royal Academy in 1925 and subsequently installed inCoventry Cathedral.

Thornycroft became increasingly resistant to new developments in sculpture, although his work of the early 1880s helped to catalyse sculpture in the United Kingdom towards those new directions. In sum, he provided an important transition between the neoclassical and academic styles of the 19th century and its fin-de-siècle andmodernistdepartures.

Blue plaque,2a Melbury Road, London

Ablue plaquecommemorates Thornycroft at2b Melbury Road,Kensington,his studio designed by his lifelong friend the architect John Belcher, c. 1892.

Family

In addition to his parents, Thornycroft's grandfatherJohn Franciswas also a distinguished sculptor. His brother,Sir John Isaac Thornycroft,became a successful naval engineer; their sister,Theresa,was the mother of the poetSiegfried Sassoon;Theresa and sisters Alyce andHelen Thornycroftwere artists.

In 1884, Hamo married Agatha Cox (1865–1958), who was fourteen years his junior. At a dinner in 1889, Agatha was introduced toThomas Hardy,who later described her as "the most beautiful woman in England" and admitted that she was one of the models for the title character in his novelTess of the D'Urbervilles.Agatha and her husband were interested in the concept of "artistic dress",and a dress worn by her (presumed to be her wedding dress) is held in the costume collection of theVictoria & Albert Museum,donated by their daughter, Elfrida Mary Manning, née Thornycroft (1901–1987), who was also his biographer.

Selected public works

1878 to 1889

Image	Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Type	Material	Dimensions	Designation	Wikidata	Notes
More images	Lot's Wife	Victoria & Albert Museum,London	1878	Statue	Marble				Previously located inLeighton House.
	Stepping Stones	Kibble Palace,Glasgow Botanic Gardens	1878	Sculpture	Marble
	Teucer	Tate	1881	Statue	Bronze	44 cm high			Several versions exist
	Charles Turner (MP)& Charles William Turner	Turner Home, Liverpool	1885	Sculpture group on pedestal	Marble		Grade II
	Samuel Taylor Coleridge	Westminster Abbey,London	1885	Bust	Marble
More images	A Sower	Kew Gardens,London	1886	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and Portland stone		Grade II	Q27082922
More images	General Gordon	Victoria Embankment Gardens,London	1887–88	Statue on pedestal with plaques	Bronze and Portland stone	3.1m (statue only)	Grade II	Q26319159	Relocated fromTrafalgar Square

1890 to 1899

Image	Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Type	Material	Dimensions	Designation	Wikidata	Notes
	John Bright	Broadfield Park,Rochdale	1891	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and stone		Grade II	Q26651280
	Queen Victoria	Royal Exchange, London	1891-6	Statue	Marble				Relocated toVictoria Barracks, Windsorin 1996.
More images	Peter Denny	Dumbarton,Scotland	Statue 1898, erected 1902	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and granite		Category B	Q17848328
More images	Queen Victoria	Francis Farewell Square,Durban,South Africa	1898	Statue on pedestal	Marble and stone			Q115106431
More images	StatueofOliver Cromwell	Outside of thePalace of Westminster,London	1899	Statue on pedestal with supporting figure	Bronze and Portland stone		Grade II	Q3497572

1900 to 1909

Image	Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Type	Material	Dimensions	Designation	Wikidata	Notes
More images	Alfred the Gret	High Street,Winchester	1901	Statue on pedestal and base	Bronze and granite		Grade II	Q26461216
More images	William Plunket	Kildare Street,Dublin	1901	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and stone
More images	Dean John Coletand Two Pupils	St Paul's School, London	1902	Sculpture group on pedestal with canopy	Bronze and stone				Originally installed at the school's previous site inHammersmith,relocated in 1968.
More images	William Ewart Gladstone	George Square,Glasgow	1902	Statue on pedestal with plaque	Bronze and granite		Category B	Q17792886
More images	MemorialtoWilliam Ewart Gladstone	The Strand, London	1905	Statue on pedestal with supporting figures	Bronze and Portland stone	11m tall	Grade II	Q27081590
More images	Mandell Creighton	St Paul's Cathedral,London	1905	Statue on pedestal	Bronze & green marble
More images	William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong	Barras Bridge,Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1905–6	Statue with screen wall, steps and relief panels	Bronze and stone		Grade II	Q26586754
	Statueof Queen Victoria	Mohatta Palace Museum,Karachi, Pakistan	1906	Statue on pedestal with supporting figures	Marble & bronze			Q76544412	Originally erected atFrere Hallon a tall pedestal with bronze figures representingIndia,Justice&Peaceand two lioness, all of which were badly damaged in 1947
More images	Cecil Rhodes	Kimberley,South Africa	1907	Equestrian statue on pedestal and steps	Bronze and stone			Q20972960
More images	Boer War Memorial	St Ann's Square, Manchester	1908	Sculpture group on pedestal with plaques	Bronze, granite and marble		Grade II	Q26546131
	Alfred Lord Tennyson	Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge	1909	Seated statue on pedestal	Stone

1910 to 1925

Image	Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Type	Material	Dimensions	Designation	Wikidata	Notes
More images	Sir Daniel Dixon, 1st Baronet	Belfast City Hall	1910	Statue on pedestal with plaques	Bronze and stone		Grade A	Q17778494
More images	The Kiss	Tate Britain,London	1916	Sculpture group on base	Marble	1.7m high
More images	C. E. H. Tempest-Hicks	St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley	c. 1922	Memorial tablet	Marble			Q106783020
	Statue of Haron Baronian	Library garden,Knutsford	Unveiled 1922	Statue on pedestal	Bronze and stone				Statue relocated twice, since 2018 part of the Great War Centenary memorial in Knutsford.
More images	War memorial	George Street,Luton	1922	Statue on cenotaph	Bronze and Portland stone	Approx. 19m tall	Grade II	Q26408428	Architect, SirReginald Blomfield
More images	BishopHuyshe Yeatman-Biggs	Coventry Cathedral	1925	Chest tomb and effigy	Bronze and stone

Other works

• Lord Mayo,1876,Kolkata,India, bronze equestrian statue, relocated toBarrackpore
• Thomas Clarkson,1877, St Mary's Church,Playford, Suffolk,memorial relief in marble
• Thomas Gray,1885, Chapel ofPembroke College, Cambridge,marble bust and bronze relief
• SirJohn Goss,1886,St Paul's Cathedral,marble panel within a larger monument by John Belcher
• Henry Bradshaw,1887,Fitzwilliam Museum,Cambridge, marble bust
• General Gordon,1889, Melbourne, Australia, bronze statue on pedestal
• George Leveson-Gower,exhibited 1895, unveiled 1896, Central Lobby, Houses of Parliament, marble statue

Commerce,former Curzon monument, Kolkata

• Marble statue of SirSteuart Bayley,completed 1894, erected 1896 Kolkata, located inDalhousie Square,Kolkata until the 1950s, current location unknown
• BishopHarvey Goodwin,1895,Carlisle Cathedral,bronze effigy with figures
• James Timmins Chance,1897,West Smethwick Park,Smethwick,bronze bust
• Boer War Memorial, 1905, Durban, bronze figure ofPeace Descendingon pedestal with two figures of lions and four reliefs of military scenes
• Marble seated statue of Queen Victoria, erectedAjodhya,India, 1908, moved to theState Museum Lucknowduring 1981-82A copy of this statue, also in marble, was erected atQaisar Baghin Lucknow and is now in the same museum
• Bronze bust of BishopMandell Creighton,1909,Lambeth Palace,London
• George Vas the Prince of Wales, 1911, Kolkata, marble statue
• Lord Curzon,1912, approach to the grounds of theVictoria Memorial, Kolkata,bronze statue on Portland stone pedestal with four supporting groups and four reliefs, partly dismantled in the 1950s, with the figure of Curzon relocated toBarrackporeand replaced with a statue ofSri Aurobindo.The four groups representingFamine Relief,Agriculture,CommerceandPeaceremain in their original location as do the four relief panels.
• Bust ofThomas Hardy,1915,National Portrait Gallery,London
• Edward VII,1917, Frere Park, Karachi, marble statue on pedestal with bronze groups, representingBritanniaandPeace,and statues of a British soldier and ofKhudadad Khan,VC, at base. Now damaged and dismantled as an assembly with the remains in theMohatta Palacein Karachi.
• TheVictoria and Albert Museumholds a plaster model, dated 1884, of an equestrian statue ofEdward Ithat Thornycroft completed in 1884 for a competition to select statues for the approaches toBlackfriars Bridgein London, a project that was subsequently abandoned.

Gallery

• 
  Hamo Thornycroft, byMaulland Fox, c. 1880
• 
  Caricature bySpyforVanity Fairmagazine, 1892

Writings

• "Lecture to the Sculpture Students of the Royal Academy of Art, 1885"reprinted in the Journal of theWalpole Society,vol. 69 (2007): 211–26.

Further reading

• Dakers, Caroline (1999).The Holland Park Circle: Artists and Victorian Society.Yale University Press.ISBN978-0-300-08164-0.
• "W. H. Thornycroft, A.R.A."Victorian Artists at Home.Emory University.2021.Retrieved8 February2021.
• Beattie, Susan.The New Sculpture.New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
• Friedman, Terry, ed.The Alliance of Sculpture and Architecture.Leeds: Henry Moore Institute, 1993.
• Getsy, David, "The Problem of Realism in Hamo Thornycroft's 1885 Royal Academy Lecture,"The Walpole Society69 (2007): 211–25.
• Gosse, Edmund. "Our Living Artists: Hamo Thornycroft, A.R.A."Magazine of Art,1881, pp. 328–32.
• Read, Benedict.Victorian Sculpture.New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982.
• White, Adam.Hamo Thornycroft and the Martyr General.Leeds: Henry Moore Institute, 1991.

External links

• 108 artworks by or after Hamo Thornycroftat theArt UKsite
• Papers of the Thornycroft Family, in the Archive of Sculptors Papers at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
• Thornycroft works in the Tate Collection, London
• The Victorian Web, featuring links to images of works
• "Archival material relating to Hamo Thornycroft".UK National Archives.
• Portraits of Hamo Thornycroftat theNational Portrait Gallery, London