Alexander Munro (sculptor)

Alexander Munro (26 October 1825 – 1 January 1871) was a British sculptor of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He concentrated on portraiture and statues, but is best known for his Rossetti-influenced figure-group Paolo and Francesca (1852), which has often been identified as the epitome of Pre-Raphaelite sculpture.

Lionel Cust described his work as "sketchy and wanting in strength, but full of refinement and true feeling."

Son of a stonemason, his talents were supported by financial assistance from his father's employer, the Duchess of Sutherland. From 1842 he assisted and trained in the Edinburgh studio of the sculptor Alexander Handyside Ritchie. He came to London in 1848 to study sculpture under Charles Barry. At this time he also worked as a mason on the new Palace of Westminster. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1849 to 1870, and in the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Munro was a close associate of Thomas Woolner, the only sculptor to be a member of the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was also friendly with Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Munro is significant in the history of the movement since he is often cited as a contributor to the controversy over Pre-Raphaelitism in 1850, when he "leaked" the information that the group formed a secret brotherhood.

In 1854, with Thomas Woolner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, Lowes Cato Dickinson and John Ruskin, Munro began teaching at the newly established Working Men's College.

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