Alfred George Stevens
Born 31 December 1817
Died 1 May 1875
Active: 1833 - 1875
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, medallist, designer
Born at Blandford Forum, Dorset, the son of George Stevens, a heraldic painter. In 1833 Alfred went to Italy and trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, later working as an assistant to Bertel Thorvaldsen in Rome (1841-2).
After returning to England in 1845, Stevens taught painting and ornament at the Government School of Design at Somerset House, London. However he resigned in 1847 and later turned down Henry Cole's request to return to the school after it moved to South Kensington.
Stevens' former pupil, Young Mitchell who was the headmaster of Sheffield School of Design encouraged his ex-teacher to move to Sheffield and take up a position as chief designer at Hoole & Co (1850-56). During this time Hoole's won a number of prestigious medals and Stevens' work was singled out for particular praise. He was a highly versatile designer creating a wide-range of objects from hot-air stoves and bowie knives to table-centres and street lamps. The twenty-five cast-iron lions for the British Museum railings are his most prominent achievement from this period.
In 1856 Stevens received two major commissions: the dining room decorations for Dorchester House, London (demolished, 1929) and the monument to the Duke of Wellington (1856–1912). However, although Stevens produced remarkable designs for both projects both progressed extremely slowly, went over budget and remained unfinished at his death. The reasons for this have been attributed to his romantic temperament and unwillingness to engage with the business of his profession (Stocker) or as a victim of unsympathetic patrons (Armstrong (1881) Beattie (1983).
Stevens died unexpectedly at 9 Eton Villas, Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, London.
Wealth at death: £2,000 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 1875
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Sketch Model for the Wellington Memorial
Wellington Memorial
The completion of the unfinished memorial was discussed on 3 February 1908 (minutes of meeting, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, vol. I)
Locations
Address 38 Western Bank Sheffield England | View on map
1851 (Circa)
Boarder
Address 5 Church Row London England | View on map
1870 (Presumed)
Address 9 Eton Villas Haverstock Hill London England | View on map
1875
Before
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Franco-British Exhibition of Science, Art and Industries (London), 1908
'Sketch Model for the Wellington Memorial'
Exhibited at The Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland Third Exhibition, 1904
1904
Work exhibited posthumously
Exhibited at Visit to Dorchester House (included viewing of work of Alfred Stevens) (Art Workers Guild), 1929
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1876
Only exhibited posthumously ('Valour and Cowardice', group in bronze, cat. no. 1427 and 'Recumbent figure in bronze of the late Lord Wellington', cat. no. 1522)
Personal and Professional Connections
Assistant was Hugh Hutton Stannus
Stannus was Stevens' pupil and then his assistant, they met whilst both were working for Hoole & Co in Sheffield
Belonged to same artists\' circle as William Ellis
They probably met in Sheffield possibly at Hoole and Co, the firm at which Stevens worked as head designer between 1850-6. Ellis is also said to have been associated with Stevens after the latter's return to London towards the end of the 1850s
Nominated by Alfred Elmore
28 October 1869
Seconded by Frederic Leighton
28 October 1869
For RA; unsuccessful.
Worked with Godfrey Sykes
At Sheffield School of Design and at Hoole & Co
Descriptions of Practice
Listed as medallist Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin, Gem, and Seal-Engravers, Mint Masters, &c., Ancient and Modern with References to their Works, B.C. 500 - A.D. 1900, Volume VIII, 1930 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Forrer cites a review by A. E. Knight in 'The Connoisseur', XXXV, p. 147, in which Knight suggests that 'a wax model, for the reverse of the National Medal for the Department of Science and Art, is one of the most valued treasures of the South Kensington Museum, where also is deposited the plaster cast of his beautiful design for the Local Medal of the same Department'. See vol. 8, (1930), p. 222.
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
'Artist'
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 1200-3
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1897
1897
Cat. No. 850, p. 80
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2005
Class: HO107; Piece: 2339; Folio: 943; Page: 10; GSU roll: 87590-87593
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Mark Stocker, ‘Stevens, Alfred George (1817–1875)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26420, accessed 10 July 2009]
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1869.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
6 January 1908; 13 January 1908.
The Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland Catalogue of The Third Exhibition, 1904
1904
p. 10
Citing this record
'Alfred George Stevens', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1213797397, accessed 23 Sep 2023]
