Lectures on Sculpture: On the Death of Thomas Banks, Antonio Conova, and John Flaxman

John Flaxman (1755-1826) was an extraordinarily popular British sculptor, illustrator, and teacher. He earned his start by creating funerary monuments. Despite moving on to creating different sculpture forms and art in different media, he was still influenced by his early form of bas-reliefs and incorporated it into other projects. Having married an intelligent, hard working wife, Anne Denman, the pair enjoyed a lot of success and support of one another. Together they enjoyed many years in Rome, with Flaxman illustrating and sculpting a great deal. after nearly eight years, they returned to England, where Flaxman was made an Associate of the Royal Academy, where he exhibited for a few years before he was made a full Academician, where he went on to teach. Flaxman remains an extremely influential figure. University College London has much of Flaxman’s work in terms of writings, drawings, and plasters and the famed Flaxman Gallery. Sadly, some of it was damaged during air raids of World War II.