Muir spent his life fighting for the rights of the poor and the oppressed. Encouraged by the Revolution in France, he pressed for parliamentary reform in Britain. In 1793 he was charged with sedition and sentenced to fourteen years exile in Botany Bay, Australia. Three years later Muir arranged his escape to America but he was arrested by the Spanish and badly injured when the ship he was on was attacked by the British. Assumed to be dead by the authorities, Muir reached Paris where he was treated as a great hero and martyr. In this engraving, beneath the image, there is a verse adapted from a poem by James Thomson. It begins: ?Should fate command me to the farthest verge. Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes??
Thomas Banks (English, 1735 - 1805)
Banks was regarded as one of the leading sculptors of his day. He began his studies as an apprentice to William Barlow, a mason and woodcarver, and he spent his evenings studying drawing. Following this Banks began life drawing classes at St Martin?s Lane Academy. It is thought that by 1769 he was employed as an assistant to the sculptor Richard Hayward. The same year he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools where he went on to win the Rome scholarship, the first sculptor to do so. He travelled to the Italian capital in 1772, returning to England in 1779. Banks then established a career sculpting church memorials. This included a commission in 1783 to realise a vast monument of the army officer, Sir Eyre Coote, for Westminster Abbey. He also collected Old Master drawings.
Thomas Banks (English, 1735 - 1805)
Banks was regarded as one of the leading sculptors of his day. He began his studies as an apprentice to William Barlow, a mason and woodcarver, and he spent his evenings studying drawing. Following this Banks began life drawing classes at St Martin?s Lane Academy. It is thought that by 1769 he was employed as an assistant to the sculptor Richard Hayward. The same year he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools where he went on to win the Rome scholarship, the first sculptor to do so. He travelled to the Italian capital in 1772, returning to England in 1779. Banks then established a career sculpting church memorials. This included a commission in 1783 to realise a vast monument of the army officer, Sir Eyre Coote, for Westminster Abbey. He also collected Old Master drawings.
Thomas Banks (English, 1735 - 1805)
Banks was regarded as one of the leading sculptors of his day. He began his studies as an apprentice to William Barlow, a mason and woodcarver, and he spent his evenings studying drawing. Following this Banks began life drawing classes at St Martin?s Lane Academy. It is thought that by 1769 he was employed as an assistant to the sculptor Richard Hayward. The same year he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools where he went on to win the Rome scholarship, the first sculptor to do so. He travelled to the Italian capital in 1772, returning to England in 1779. Banks then established a career sculpting church memorials. This included a commission in 1783 to realise a vast monument of the army officer, Sir Eyre Coote, for Westminster Abbey. He also collected Old Master drawings.
Thomas Banks (English, 1735 - 1805)
Banks was regarded as one of the leading sculptors of his day. He began his studies as an apprentice to William Barlow, a mason and woodcarver, and he spent his evenings studying drawing. Following this Banks began life drawing classes at St Martin?s Lane Academy. It is thought that by 1769 he was employed as an assistant to the sculptor Richard Hayward. The same year he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools where he went on to win the Rome scholarship, the first sculptor to do so. He travelled to the Italian capital in 1772, returning to England in 1779. Banks then established a career sculpting church memorials. This included a commission in 1783 to realise a vast monument of the army officer, Sir Eyre Coote, for Westminster Abbey. He also collected Old Master drawings.
Thomas Banks (English, 1735 - 1805)
Banks was regarded as one of the leading sculptors of his day. He began his studies as an apprentice to William Barlow, a mason and woodcarver, and he spent his evenings studying drawing. Following this Banks began life drawing classes at St Martin?s Lane Academy. It is thought that by 1769 he was employed as an assistant to the sculptor Richard Hayward. The same year he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools where he went on to win the Rome scholarship, the first sculptor to do so. He travelled to the Italian capital in 1772, returning to England in 1779. Banks then established a career sculpting church memorials. This included a commission in 1783 to realise a vast monument of the army officer, Sir Eyre Coote, for Westminster Abbey. He also collected Old Master drawings.
Thomas Holloway (English, 1748 - 1827)
Holloway enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools in 1773. From this date until 1777 he exhibited a range of works at the Royal Academy, including portraits in crayon and oil, seals and engraved gems. However, it was as an engraver that he made his living. The largest project he worked on was the publication in English of J.C. Lavater?s `Essays on Physiognomy?, which was published in five volumes between 1789 and 1798. Holloway had overall control of the series of engravings that amounted to 800 plates in total. He executed some 300 himself. In 1800 Holloway embarked on a folio edition of engravings after the full-scale designs for tapestries by Raphael, which were then at Windsor. This led to Holloway?s appointment as historical engraver to the king.
