Sir William Blake Richmond RA
Born 29 November 1842
Died 11 February 1921
Active: 1858 - 1920
Country of birth and death: England
Painter, sculptor, designer of mosaics, and illustrator
Born and died in London. He was primarily a painter but executed a number of highly regarded sculptures, including 'An Athlete' (shown at the Grosvenor Gallery, 1879) and 'The Arcadian Shepherd' (exhibited at the Royal Academy cat. no. 2187). He also made a memorial to William Ewart Gladstone (1906) for Hawarden church, Flintshire.
Wealth at death: £9,838 17s. 7d.
Probate date: 18 April 1921
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.
Spandrils: 'The Angels of the Passions'
Spandrils: 'Turned out of Paradise'
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Manchester Art Gallery, Second Exhibition of Arts and Crafts, 1895
Multiple works
Speaker at Architecture, from the Painter's and Sculptor's points of view (Art Workers Guild), 1892
Institutional and Business Connections
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
17 January 1888
Elected honorary member of Royal Academy of Arts
1 January 1920
Elected Senior Royal Academician.
Elected RA Royal Academy of Arts
26 July 1895
Lectured at Royal Academy Schools
1894 - 1895
Lectured three times on 'The Evolution of Sculpture' shortly before and during his tenure as Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy Schools (1895-99). See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1894', (1895), p. 39.
Lectured at Royal Academy Schools
March 1906
Lectured three times on 'The Evolution of Sculpture-Egypt and Greece' during his tenure as Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy Schools (1895-99). See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1906', (1907), p. 45.
Master of Art Workers Guild
1891
Member of Art Workers Guild
1884 - 1896
Honorary member 1887, Master 1891, resigned 1896.
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1905 - 1920
Amongst the second wave of those invited to join 'without further nomination' [2 March 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I].
President of Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design
1883 - 1884
Visitor at Royal College of Art (including National Art Training School)
1895
Listed as a Visitor to the school.
Personal and Professional Connections
Nominator of Edouard Lanteri
13 November 1906
For RA; unsuccessful.
Studied under Alphonse Legros
See Forrer, vol. 5, (1912), p. 118. No dates are given.
Studied under Edward John Poynter
See Forrer, vol. 5, (1912), p. 118. No dates are given.
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 V, 1912 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Listed as a contemporary sculptor, painter and medallist. Son of George Richmond (painter). Forrer notes that the artist was an Associate of the Royal Academy, and 'a pupil of Prof. Legros and E. J. Poynter'. Executed portrait medallions, modelled in wax and cast in bronze. No dates are given by Forrer. See vol. 5, (1912), p. 118.
Publications
Author of Memorandum upon the Royal College of Art Prepared by the Council of Art and Submitted to the Board of Education, 1900
1900
p. 7.
Sources
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1885-1900
1892, p.4.
Catalogue of the Second Exhibition of Arts and Crafts, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1895
1895
Cat. Nos. 233-246, pp. 89, 90, 258
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Simon Reynolds, ‘Richmond, Sir William Blake (1842–1921)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35745, accessed 13 Aug 2010]
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1906.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
2 March 1905.
Citing this record
'Sir William Blake Richmond RA', 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_1214226337, accessed 21 Mar 2023]
