Thomas Brock
Sir Thomas Brock KCB RA (1 March 1847 – 22 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.[1][2] His most famous work is the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London.[2] Other commissions included the redesign of the effigy of Queen Victoria on British coinage and the massive bronze equestrian statue of Edward, the Black Prince, in City Square, Leeds.[3]
Sir Thomas Brock | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | 1 March 1847 |
Died | 22 August 1922 75) London, England | (aged
Nationality | British |
Alma mater |
|
Known for | Sculpture, coin design |
Biography
Brock was born on 1 March 1847 in Worcester.[2] He was the only son of a painter and decorator an attended the Government School of Design in Worcester and then undertook an apprenticeship in modelling at the Worcester Royal Porcelain Works.[4] In 1866 he became a pupil of the sculptor John Henry Foley and also enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools where he won a gold medal for sculpture in 1869.[4][5] After Foley's death in 1874, Brock finished some of his commissions, including the monument to Daniel O'Connell in Dublin.[4][6] 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.[6][5]
![](../I/Thomas_Brock_in_Studio.jpg.webp)
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.[7] His portrait works include busts, such as those of Lord Leighton and Queen Victoria, statues, such as Sir Richard Owen and Henry Philpott, bishop of Worcester, and sepulchral monuments such as that of Lord Leighton (died 1896) in St Paul's Cathedral.[8][5]
In 1901 Brock was asked to make a colossal equestrian statue of Edward the Black Prince for Leeds City Square, and was also given perhaps his most significant commission, the vast multi-figure Imperial Memorial to Queen Victoria to be set up in front of Buckingham Palace. He had previously made statues of the queen to celebrate her golden and diamond jubilees, and designed the depiction of her "veiled" or "widowed" head, used on all gold, silver and bronze coinage between 1893 and 1901. According to legend, at the unveiling of the memorial in May 1911, George V was so moved by the excellence of the memorial that he called for a sword and knighted Brock on the spot.
Brock was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1883 and became a full member in 1891.[5] He was the founding president of the Society of British Sculptors.[6] He died in London on 22 August 1922. Brock married in 1869, and had eight children.
Public monuments
1875–1889
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Wikidata | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() More images |
Richard Baxter | St Mary's, Kidderminster | 1875 | Statue on pedestal | Marble and granite | Grade II | Originally in the Bull Ring, Kidderminster and moved to its present site in March 1967.[9][10][11] | ||
![]() More images |
A Moment of Peril | Rosenborg Castle Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark | 1880 | Sculpture group | Bronze | Q57542450 | Replica of the original in the gardens of the Leighton House Museum in London.[12] | ||
![]() More images |
Statue of Robert Raikes | Victoria Embankment Gardens, London | 1880 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | Grade II | Q19967451 | [13][14] | |
![]() More images |
Sir Rowland Hill | Vicar Street, Kidderminster | 1881 | Statue on circular pedestal | Stone and granite | Grade II | Q26392153 | [15][16][17] | |
![]() More images |
Colin Minton Campbell | London Road, Stoke-on-Trent | 1887 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | 5.05m high | [18] | ||
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Shire Hall, Worcester | 1887 | Statue on pedestal | Marble and granite | Grade II | Q26669257 | [19] | |
![]() More images |
Statue of Henry Bartle Frere | Whitehall Gardens, London | 1888 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and granite | Grade II | Q21286428 | [20][21][5] |
1890–1899
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Wikidata | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, South Africa | 1890 | Statue on pedestal | Granite pedestal | Q20614583 | |||
![]() |
Daniel O'Connell | St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia | Erected 1891 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze | [22] | |||
![]() |
Bishop Henry Philpott | Worcester Cathedral | 1892 | Seated statue on pedestal | Stone | [23] | |||
![]() |
Richard Owen | Natural History Museum, London | 1896 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and marble | [24] | |||
![]() More images |
Memorial to Sir Augustus Harris | Catherine St. facade of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane | 1897 | Wall mounted drinking fountain and sculpture | Granite and bronze | Grade I | Memorial architect: Sidney R. J. Smith [25] | ||
![]() |
William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr | Upper Thomas Street, Merthyr Tydfil | 1898 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and granite | Grade II | Q29489929 | [26] | |
![]() |
Thomas Hughes | Rugby School | 1899 | Statue on pedestal | [27] |
1900–1909
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Wikidata | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Victoria Square, Birmingham | 1901, recast 1951 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | Q47460184 | Recast by William Bloye from Brock's original marble statue in 1951[28] | ||
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Grand Avenue, Hove | Unveiled 1901 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and marble | Grade II | Q26482744 | [29] | |
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Carlton House Terrace, London | Unveiled 1902 | Statue | Marble | Q19927909 | |||
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Bitts Park, Carlisle | 1902 | Statue on pedestal & steps | Bronze and granite | Grade II | Q26513391 | [30][31] | |
Royal Scots Fusiliers memorial | Burns Statue Square, Ayr | 1902 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and granite | Category B | Q17834558 | [32][33] | ||
![]() More images |
Edward, the Black Prince | Leeds City Square | 1903 | Equestrian statue on pedestal | Bronze and granite | Grade II* | Q17533834 | [34][5] | |
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Belfast City Hall. | 1903 | Statue on pedestal and steps with sculptures | Marble, Portland stone, bronze | Grade A | [35][36] | ||
![]() More images |
Edward James Harland | Belfast City Hall | 1903 | Statue on pedestal | Stone | Q17778453 | [37] | ||
![]() More images |
William Ewart Gladstone | St John's Gardens, Liverpool | 1904 | Statue on pedestal, relief panel with 2 statues at base | Bronze | Grade II | Q26333153 | [38] | |
![]() More images |
Sir John Everett Millais | Tate Britain, London | 1905 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and Portland stone | Grade II | Q27080819 | [39][40] | |
![]() More images |
Sir Henry Tate | Brixton Oval, London | 1905 | Bust on pedestal | Bronze and stone | Grade II | Q27087718 | [41] | |
![]() More images |
Statue of Queen Victoria | Queen's Park, Bangalore | 1906 | Statue on pedestal | Q22116770 | [42] | |||
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Queens Gardens, Brisbane, Australia | 1906 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | [43] |
1910–1919
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Wikidata | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() More images |
Statue of Sir Henry Irving | Charing Cross Road, London | 1910 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and Portland stone | Grade II | Q18162015 | [44] | |
![]() More images |
Victoria Memorial, London | The Mall, London | Unveiled 1911, completed 1924 | Sculpture on pillar with statues and fountains | Marble, bronze, Portland stone | Grade I | Q1333411 | [45][5][46] | |
![]() More images |
William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr | Aberdare Park, Aberdare | 1913 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and granite | Grade II | Q29489480 | [47] | |
![]() |
Navigation | Admiralty Arch, London | 1908–1913 | Wall-mounted statue | Portland stone | Grade I | [48] | ||
![]() |
Gunnery | Admiralty Arch, London | 1908–1913 | Wall-mounted statue | Portland stone | Grade I | [48][49] | ||
![]() More images |
Statue of Captain James Cook | The Mall, London | 1914 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and Portland stone | Grade II | Q17514442 | [50][51] | |
![]() More images |
Edward VII | Queen's Park, Toronto | 1919 | Equestrian statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | Originally erected in Delhi, India, relocated to Canada in 1969 as a gift of the government of India.[52] |
1920 and later
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Wikidata | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() More images |
Titanic Memorial, Belfast | Belfast City Hall | 1920 | Statue group on pedestal | Stone | Q7809806 | [36] | ||
![]() More images |
Edward VII | Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia | 1921 | Equestrian statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | Brock won the commission in 1915, but the work was not finished and delivered until 1921.[53] | |||
![]() More images |
Queen Victoria | Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, India | 1921 | Statue on pedestal | Marble | Q92360284 | [54][55] | ||
![]() |
Captain Charles Grant Seely | St Olave's Church, Gatcombe, Isle of Wight. | 1922 | Sculpture on box tomb | Marble and stone | Q93239404 | Brock's final completed work.[56][57] | ||
![]() More images |
Memorial to Joseph Lister | Portland Place, London | 1924 | Bust on column with sculptures | Bronze and granite | Grade II | Q21541736 | [58] | |
![]() More images |
War memorial | Queen's University, Belfast | 1924 | Statue group on pedestal | Bronze and granite | Q66459168 | [59] | ||
![]() More images |
Robert Raikes | Gloucester | 1930 | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | A copy of Brock's 1880 statue in London[60] |
Other works
- Equestrian bronze A Moment of Peril (1880) now in the collection of Tate Britain.[61]
- Design of Queen Victoria's "veiled" or "widowed" head on British coinage and medals (1893–1901).
- Statue of Queen Victoria, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, 1905 (removed after 1947 independence of India)[62]
- Bust of Henry W. Longfellow, Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.
References
- "Sir Thomas Brock British sculptor". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- Ian Chilvers (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860476-9.
- Stocker, Mark (3 January 2008). "Brock, Sir Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32080. Retrieved 5 June 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- University of Glasgow History of Art / HATII (2011). "Sir Thomas Brock RA, KCB, PRBS, HRSA". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851–1951. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- Susan Beattie (1983). The New Sculpture. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art / Yale University Press. ISBN 0300033591.
- "Sir Thomas Brock RA (1847–1922)". Royal Academy. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "Sir Thomas Brock: Eve, 1900". Tate. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- Chisholm 1911.
- The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p207
- Kidderminster Since 1800, Ken Tomkinson and George Hall, 1975, pp. 209–210.
- Historic England. "The Baxter Monument (1100091)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- "A Moment of Peril". The Victorian Web. 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- Historic England. "Statue of Robert Raikes (1066179)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- Gomme 1910, p. 42.
- Historic England. "Statue of Sir Rowland Hill (1100054)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p208
- "Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879)". Thomas Brock. Victorianweb.org. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- "Statue of Colin Minton Campbell (1827-1885)". Public Monument and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- Historic England. "Statue of Queen Victoria Approximately 15 metres to west of Shire Hall (1389833)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- Historic England. "Statue of Sir Bartle Frere (1066176)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- Gomme 1910, p. 24.
- "St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne". Australia's Christian Heritage. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968, p. 312.
- John C. Thackray (1995). A catalogue of portraits, paintings and sculpture at the Natural History Museum, London. Mansell, London.
- Historic England. "Theatre Royal Drury Lane and attached Sir Augustus Harris Memorial Drinking Fountain (1357276)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- Cadw. "Statue & Plinth to Sir W.T. Lewis (11476)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- Public sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull by George Thomas Noszlopy, pp. 28–29.
- George T. Noszlopy (1998). Public Sculpture of Britain volume 2: Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-682-8.
- Historic England. "Statue of Queen Victoria (1187555)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- Historic England. "Statue of Queen Victoria (1218785)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- "Queen Victoria Monument, Carlisle". History and Heritage. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- Historic Environment Scotland. "Burns Statue Square, South African War Memorial (Category B Listed Building) (LB21516)". Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- "War Memorials Register: Royal Scots Fusiliers - Burma, Sudan, Tirah Campagn, 1st Boer War and 2nd Boer War". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- Historic England. "Statue of the Black Prince (1375045)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- "Victoria Memorial". Buildings Database, Northern Ireland Department of Communities. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- "Belfast City Hall". Causeway Coastal Path. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
- "Edward James Harland statue". Titanic Memorials. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- Historic England. "Gladstone Monument (1073469)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- "Sir Thomas Brock: Sir John Everett Millais 1904". Tate. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- Historic England. "Statue of John Everett Millais (1222797)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- Historic England. "Bust of Sir Henry Tate (1434203)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- Iyer, Meera (4 February 2013). "Empress of all she surveys" (Bangalore). Deccan Herald. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- "Queen Victoria". Monument Australia. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- Historic England. "Statue of Henry Irving, London (1357292)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- Historic England. "Queen Victoria Memorial (1273864)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- "National Victoria Memorial 1911". Yale Centre for British Art. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- Cadw. "Pedestal and Statue of Lord Merthyr in Aberdare Park (10885)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- "Sculpture by Thomas Brock on Admiralty Arch". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- "Gunnery". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- "The Mall, London". The Captain Cook Society. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
- Historic England. "Statue of Captain Cook (1239083)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- Wencer, David. "Historicist: Here Comes the Equestrian Statue". Torontoist. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- "Royalty and Australian Society Chapter 2: King Edward VII". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- "Queen Victoria". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- "HM The Queen Empress Victoria (1819–1901)". Museums of India, National Portal & Digital Repository. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- Harris, Oliver D. (2018). "A crusading 'captain in khaki': Sir Thomas Brock's monument to Charles Grant Seely at Gatcombe (Isle of Wight)". Church Monuments. 33: 97–120.
- "War Memorials Register: Captain CG Seely". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- Historic England. "Lister Monument in Centre of Road opposite Numbers 71 to 81 (odd) Portland Place (1265542)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- "War Memorials Register: Sacrifice - Queens University". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- "Robert Raikes Statue Achievements". Gloucester Civic Trust. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
- "A Moment of Peril, 1880, Sir Thomas Brock". Tate. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- "Statue of Queen Victoria | Yale Center For British Art". interactive.britishart.yale.edu. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
Bibliography
- Brock, Frederick (2012). Sankey, John (ed.). Thomas Brock: forgotten sculptor of the Victoria Memorial. Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781467883344.
- Byron, Arthur (1981). London Statues: a guide to London's outdoor statues and sculpture. London: Constable. ISBN 9780094634305.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brock, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 623.
- Getsy, David J. (2004). Body Doubles: Sculpture in Britain, 1877–1905. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300105124.
- Gomme, George Laurence (1910). Return of Outdoor Memorials in London. London: London County Council.
- Harrold, Pauline; Rota, Una; Stainton, Thomas, eds. (1968). British Sculpture, 1850–1914: a loan exhibition of sculpture and medals sponsored by the Victorian Society, 30th September–30th October 1968. London: Fine Art Society.
- Read, Benedict (1982). Victorian Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300025064.
- Sankey, John Anthony (2002). Thomas Brock and the Critics – An Examination of Brock's Place in the New Sculpture Movement. PhD Thesis: University of Leeds.
- Stocker, Mark. "Brock, Sir Thomas (1847–1922)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32080. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Brock. |
- 50 paintings by or after Thomas Brock at the Art UK site
Preceded by Joseph Edgar Boehm |
Coins of the pound sterling Obverse sculptor 1892 |
Succeeded by George William de Saulles |