- John Steell
Sir John Robert Steell (1804 - 1891) was a Scottish sculptor. He is best known for a number of sculptures displayed in
Edinburgh , including the statue of SirWalter Scott at theScott Monument . His portrait was painted byRobert Scott Lauder .Steell was born in
Aberdeen , one of the eleven children of John Steell senior, an Edinburgh carver and guilder, and Margaret Gourlay, the daughter of William Gourlay, aDundee shipbuilder. Steell initially followed his father, training to be a carver himself. He showed artistic talent, and so studied art at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh and then studied sculpture inRome . On his return he opened Scotland's firstfoundry dedicated to sculptures, and was commissioned for numerous works, particularly statues and monuments in Edinburgh. He exhibited at theRoyal Scottish Academy and theRoyal Academy , and was knighted in 1876 following the unveiling, by Queen Victoria, of his statue "The Prince Consort".Sir John Steell's brother
Gourlay Steell was himself a noted painter: he was Queen Victoria's animal painter, taking over from Sir Edwin Landseer. Many of Gourlay Steell's paintings remain in the private collection of Queen Elizabeth II.John Steell is buried in an unmarked grave in Edinburgh's Old Calton
cemetery ; this grave was purchased by his father John Steell senior and many of the Steell and Gourlay families are also laid to rest there.Works
Steell's works include:
* a white Carraramarble statue of novelist Sir Walter Scott, the centrepiece of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh'sPrinces Street Gardens
* anbronze equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington outside Register House in Edinburgh. When it was unveiled the press dubbed the statue "the Iron Duke in bronze by Steell"
* a bronze bust ofFlorence Nightingale , on display atLondon 's National Portrait Gallery
* a bust ofThomas de Quincey
* the statue "Alexander tamingBucephalus " in the courtyard in front of Edinburgh's City Chambers
* a statue ofLord Dalhousie in Calcutta
* a statue of artist Allan Ramsay
* a seated statue of Scottish national poetRobert Burns inCentral Park ,New York City (1871)
* a seated statue of Scottish authorSir Walter Scott inCentral Park ,New York City (1880)
* a monument to soldiers from the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders regiment who fell in theCrimean War , situated inGlasgow Cathedral
* a statue of early parliamentarianGeorge Kinloch in Dundee
* a stone statue of Queen Victoria at Edinburgh's Royal Institution
* busts of Lord Cockburn and Lord Jeffrey
* a bronzebas relief funerary panel of Lord and Lady Rutherfurd, and later a marble bust of Lady Rutherfurd, modelled after herdeath mask
* a statue of Prince Albert (entitled "The Prince Consort") inCharlotte Square in EdinburghReferences
* [http://www.glasgowsculpture.com/pg_biography.php?sub=steell_j Biography and works]
* [http://www.headstones.fsnet.co.uk/ocalton.htm Steell's grave in Old Calton cemetery]
* [http://www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/southend/sirwalterscott-robertburns/ Central Park Conservancy]
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