Thomas Woolner

Bio

Woolner was born on 17 December 1825 at Hadleigh, Suffolk. He trained in the studio of William Behnes before joining the Royal Academy Schools in 1842. He entered, unsuccessfully, the Westminster Hall competition in 1844. During the 1840s he was associated with Bernhard Smith and John Hancock and through D. G. Rossetti met Holman Hunt and Millais. He became the only sculptor member of the PRB in 1848. Woolner contributed poetry to The Germ and introduced Coventry Patmore to the circle; he was also especially close to the Tennysons. Disillusioned with sculpture, he left for Australia in July 1852 with Bernhard Smith, but his failure as a gold prospector meant he was soon working again as a portrait sculptor in Melbourne and Sydney. He returned to England in 1854 and gradually established a substantial practice in portrait sculpture, with occasional architectural and Ideal works, such as at the old Manchester Assize Court, the Oxford Museum, Llandaff Cathedral, The Lord’s Prayer and Love. He was a founder-member of the Hogarth Club in 1858. In 1861 be bought a house at 29 Welbeck Street and married Alice Waugh on 6 September 1864. He was elected ARA in 1871 and Royal Academician four years later. He was Professor of Sculpture from 1877-9. After 1870 he received several commissions for public monuments and with his increasing prosperity became a collector. He died in London on 7 October 1892.