Alexander Munro (sculptor)

Alexander Munro
Alexander Munro
Born	26 October 1825; Cannes, France
Nationality	British
Occupation	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.^[1]

Lionel Cust described his work as "sketchy and wanting in strength, but full of refinement and true feeling."^[2]

Life

Munro was born at

Great Exhibition of 1851.^[4] Between 1853 and 1865 Munro created a number of portrait busts of children for society families.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.

Munro's sculptures were noted for their formal simplicity. His most famous work was Paolo and Francesca, which was exhibited at the 1851 exhibition.^[4] It depicted the lovers as languid, dreamy and genteel, contributing to the popular image of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The final marble version is in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The original plaster version of the sculpture is currently on display in Wallington Hall, which also contains a portrait relief bust of Pauline, Lady Trevelyan created by Munro.

He later created public sculptures for Berkeley Square and Hyde Park Corner, as well as several memorial statues. Six of the seventeen statues of scientists in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History are his work, all produced circa 1860.

Munro suffered from ill health, and was struck down by a lung disease which slowly undermined his constitution. In his last years he and his wife lived in Cannes, France, for his health,^[2] and this is where he died on New Year's Day 1871.^[3]

Family

Munro married one of the daughters of the journalist

Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.^[5]

Chronological list of principal works

Bust of Mrs Banks exhibited at Royal Academy (1849)
Chimney-pieces for Dunrobin Castle for the Duke of Sutherland (1849)
Bust of John Loch at Stoke College, Suffolk (1850)
Statue of Francesca da Rimini for William Gladstone (1852)
Medallion of Lady Constance Grosvenor, exhibited at Royal Academy (1853)
Sculpture group of The Ingram Children for Herbert Ingram (1853)
Bust of
Sir Robert Peel at Oldham
(1854)

Medallion of Lady Alwyne Compton exhibited at Royal Academy (1854)

Medallion of John Everett Millais for the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (1854)
Bust of William Gladstone exhibited at Royal Academy (1855)
Medallion of Henry Wellesley for the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (1856)
Sculpture group of The Gladstone Children at Hawarden, home of William Ewart Gladstone (1856)
Bust of Henry Acland at Bodleian Library, Oxford (1857)
Statue of
Undine exhibited at Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester
(1857)

Bust of Adelaide Ristori exhibited at Royal Academy (1858)

Sculpture group of The Gathorne Hardy Children (1859)

Medallion of Mrs Tom Hughes exhibited at the Royal Academy (1859)

Bust of Louis Huth exhibited at the Royal Academy (1860)
Bust of Helen Huth exhibited at the Royal Academy (1860)
Medallion of
Oxford University
's University Museum (1860)
Bust of
Lord Ashburton
exhibited at Royal Academy (1860)
Bust of
Sir William Armstrong for Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne
(1860)

Bust of Frederick Robb for Major Eustace Robb (1861)

Sculpture group of The Matheson Children (1861)

Statue entitled Mother's Joy exhibited at the Royal Academy (1861)

Statue of Herbert Ingram at Boston, Lincolnshire (1862)
Statue of
Houses of Parliament
now the Central Criminal Court (1863)
Statues of
Oxford Museum
, (1863)
Sculpture group of The Crompton Roberts Children for Charles Henry Crompton-Roberts (1865)
Fountain in Berkeley Square London (1865)

Statue of Boy and Dolphin for Grosvenor Gate, Hyde Park (1865)
Statue of James Watt in Birmingham (1866)
Bust of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen exhibited at Royal Academy (1866)
Bust of Monsieur Victor Cousin for Napoleon III (1867)
Statue of
Ronald Munro Ferguson
exhibited at the Royal Academy (1868)
Medallion of the Duchess of Valembrossa exhibited at the Royal Academy (1869)
Bust of
Gravesend, Kent
(date unknown)
Medallion of George MacDonald at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (date unknown)
Statuary group of The Hardy Children at Chilham Church, Kent (date unknown)

References

^ Benedict Read, "Was There a Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture?", Pre-Raphaelite Papers, Tate Gallery, 1984, 97-110.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cust, Lionel (1894). "Munro, Alexander" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
^
ISBN 0902028553
.

^ ^a ^b ^c Benedict Read, Victorian Sculpture, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982.
^ The Long Engagement — Compositional Sketch and Sketch of Clasped Hands / Study of a reclining Woman, Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource Archived 29 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine.

External links

39 artworks by or after Alexander Munro at the Art UK site
Alexander Munro (1825–1871) at the Victorian Web
The Pre-Raph Pack Discover more about the artists, the techniques they used and a timeline spanning 100 years.
Munro's sculpture Paolo and Francesca

[1] Benedict Read, "Was There a Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture?", Pre-Raphaelite Papers, Tate Gallery, 1984, 97-110.

[cust-2] Cust, Lionel (1894). "Munro, Alexander" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[Mackay-3] 
ISBN 0902028553
.

[read-4] Benedict Read, Victorian Sculpture, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982.

[5] The Long Engagement — Compositional Sketch and Sketch of Clasped Hands / Study of a reclining Woman, Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource Archived 29 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine.

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[2]

[4]

[3]

[5]

v t e Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (paintings)
William Holman Hunt John Everett Millais Dante Gabriel Rossetti James Collinson William Michael Rossetti Frederic George Stephens Thomas Woolner
Associated artists and figures	Lawrence Alma-Tadema George Price Boyce John Brett Ford Madox Brown Lucy Madox Brown Richard Burchett Edward Burne-Jones Georgiana Burne-Jones James Campbell John Collier Charles Allston Collins Frank Cadogan Cowper Evelyn De Morgan Walter Deverell Henry Treffry Dunn William Dyce Henry Holiday Arthur Hughes Edward Robert Hughes Frederic Leighton Robert Braithwaite Martineau Louisa Beresford, Marchioness of Waterford William Morris Alexander Munro Joseph Noel Paton Valentine Cameron Prinsep Christina Rossetti John Ruskin Emma Sandys Frederick Sandys Thomas Seddon Elizabeth Siddal James Smetham Rebecca Solomon Simeon Solomon John Roddam Spencer Stanhope Marie Spartali Stillman John Melhuish Strudwick Algernon Charles Swinburne Henry Wallis John William Waterhouse William James Webbe William Lindsay Windus
Some well-known works (period and post-period)	Ophelia Christ in the House of His Parents A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids Ecce Ancilla Domini Mariana The Light of the World Our English Coasts ('Strayed Sheep') The Scapegoat Paolo and Francesca da Rimini The Last of England Work The Awakening Conscience The Hireling Shepherd April Love Found Autumn Leaves Bocca Baciata Oxford Union murals Lady Lilith Roman Widow Mary Magdalene The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple Morgan le Fay Beata Beatrix The Shadow of Death Proserpine A Vision of Fiammetta Pygmalion and the Image series The Beloved Cymon and Iphigenia King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid The Day Dream The Golden Stairs Dante and Beatrice Love's Messenger The Magic Circle The Legend of Briar Rose The Lady of Shalott (Waterhouse) The Roses of Heliogabalus Lilith Eos Flaming June Hope Hylas and the Nymphs Lady Godiva The Love Potion The Lady of Shalott (Hunt) I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Said the Lady of Shalott
Models	Elizabeth Siddal Fanny Cornforth Effie Gray Sophie Gray Annie Miller Jane Morris Marie Spartali Stillman Alexa Wilding Maria Zambaco Dorothy Dene Fanny Eaton Ruth Herbert
Related	The Germ Hogarth Club Morris & Co. Rossetti and His Circle (1922 book) Dante's Inferno (1967 film) The Love School (1975 series) Desperate Romantics (2009 series) Effie Gray (2014 film)

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Germany
Artists	Musée d'Orsay RKD Artists ULAN
Other	SNAC