Richard Westmacott
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Sir Richard Westmacott RA |
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| Born | 15 July 1775 |
| Died | 1 September 1856 (aged 81) |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | sculpture |
Sir Richard Westmacott RA (15 July 1775 – 1 September 1856) was a British sculptor.
Westmacott studied with his father, also named Richard Westmacott, at his studio in Mount Street, Grosvenor Square in London before going to Rome in 1793 to study under Antonio Canova. On returning to England in 1797, he set up a studio, where John Edward Carew and Musgrave Watson gained experience.
Westmacott had his own foundry at Pimlico, in London, where he cast both his own works, and those of other sculptors, including John Flaxman's statue of Sir John Moore (1810–18) for Glasgow. Late in life he was asked by the Office of Works for advice on the casting of the reliefs for Nelson’s Column. He also had an arrangement with the Trustees of the British Museum, which allowed him to make moulds and supply plaster casts of classical sculpture in the museum's collection to country house owners, academies and other institutions.
He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1797 and 1839. His name is given in the catalogues as "R. Westmacott, Junr." until 1807, when the "Junr." was dropped. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1805, and a full academician in 1811; his diploma work, a marble relief of Jupiter and Ganymede, is still in the academy's collection. He was professor of sculpture at the academy from 1827 until his death. He received his knighthood on 19 July 1837.
Among his works are the reliefs for the north side of Marble Arch, the sculptures of figures representing The Rise of Civilisation on the pediment of the British Museum, and the Waterloo Vase now in Buckingham Palace Gardens. This enormous urn was sculpted from chunks of marble earmarked by Napoleon for a trophy commemorating his anticipated victory in the Napoleonic Wars and then given to George IV as a gift from the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
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