Flaxman, John 1755-1826
English sculptor and draughtsman

Born in York, he displayed an early talent for drawing and modelling, and in 1769 became a student at the Royal Academy of Art, London. His style was Neoclassical, and he worked for 12 years, from 1775, as a designer for Josiah Wedgwood. He then directed the Wedgwood studio in Rome (1787-94), where he also executed several classical groups and began his drawings for the Iliad and Odyssey (published in 1793), the tragedies of Aeschylus (1795) and Dante's Divine Comedy (1787). In 1810 he was appointed the first Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy. His sculptures include monuments to the Earl of Mansfield (1795-1801, Westminster Abbey, London), to the poet William Collins (1795, Chichester Cathedral), to the poet Thomas Chatterton (St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol), and to Lord Nelson (1808-18, St Paul's Cathedral, London). He also created statues of Robert Burns (1822, National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh) and John Kemble (1823, Westminster Abbey).