William Brodie ARSA, RSA
Born 22 January 1815
Died 30 October 1881
Active: 1847 - 1879
Country of birth and death: Scotland
Sculptor
Born Banff. Originally trained as a plumber. He studied modelling at the Mechanics' Institute in Aberdeen, then at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh (1846-50), completing his studies in Rome (1853). One of his early works completed under the guidance of Laurence MacDonald, 'Corinna, the Lyric Muse' was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1855 and then reproduced in Copeland Parian ware in 1856.
Over subsequent decades Brodie established himself as a leading portrait sculptor, and had a large studio employing up to eight men and eight boys (1871). He received a number of important commissions for funerary monuments and architectural works. He died in Edinburgh of heart disease.
Wealth at death: £9,732 0s. 8d.
£2508. 4s. 10d additional estate - 1 September 1882
Probate date: 8 December 1881
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.
Robert Herdman, RSA
1859
Little Nell and her Grandfather
1851
Victory of Peace
1851
Affection
1851
Shakespeare
1851
Child praying
1851
Mary Queen of Scots
1851
A lady
1852
The pet
1852
Bruce in defence of liberty
1852
Lord Jeffrey
1852
A lady
1852
A Lady
1852
Prof. Simpson
1852
Prof. Syme
1852
Dr John Scott
1852
Miss Grey
1853
A gentleman
1853
Hope
1853
Dante and Beatrice
1853
Miss Rutherfurd
1854
Corinna, head from a statue executed in Rome
1854
Adoration
1854
Portrait bust
1854
Charlotte, daughter of D. O. Hill, Esq., RSA
1855
Dante and Beatrice
1855
A Lady
1855
The late Hon. Lord Cockburn
1855
The Rt Hon. Lord Rutherfurd
1855
Harry George, son of Deputy Commissary General Weir
1855
Corinna
1855
Nursery music
1856
The captive Chaldean
1856
The late Rt Hon. Lord Rutherford
1856
Mrs Lenox Kennedy of New York
1856
Alfred Tennyson, Esq., Poet Laureate
1856
The Hon. Lady Mary Labouchere
1856
Alexander Campbell, Esq., of Monzie
1856
Little Mary, daughter of Edward James Jackson, Esq.
1856
Hecamede, the Florence Nightingale of the Trojan War
1856
Oenone, nymph of Mount Ida, daughter of a river god
1856
The thunderstorm
1857
Mrs Sydney Dobell
1857
Alexander Cowan Esq.
1857
La Penserosa
1857
The late Mrs Millar
1857
The Rt Hon. the Lord Advocate
1857
The late Hon. Lord Moncrieff
1858
Hecamede, the Greek nurse
1858
A Scotch lassie
1858
Oenone
1858
The late Hugh Miller
1858
Chaldean captive - Isaiah XLVII
1858
The late Rt Hon. Lord Dunfermline
1859
The Rt Hon. Lord Kinnaird
1859
Storm
1859
Burns
1859
Marble medallion
1859
The Rt Hon. Lord Kinnaird
1860
Prof. Blackie
1860
The late Rt Hon. Earl of Rothes
1860
The late Col Hugh Morrison, HEICS
1860
Sir John Bowring
1860
The late Alexander Cowan, Esq.
1861
The Rt Hon. Lord Kinnaird
1861
Mrs Pender
1861
Matty
1861
The late Hon. Lord Moncrieff
1861
Willie
1861
John Pender, Esq., Manchester
1861
Amy, daughter of John Phillip, Esq., RA
1861
p. 181 (801)
Rev. Dr Guthrie
1861
The Late the Hon. Lord Cockburn
1862
Aunty Bella
1862
The late Alexander Earle Monteith, Esq., of Fife
1862
Jeanie Deans
1863
John A. Rankin, Esq., of Muirhouse
1863
The late Principle Cunningham
1863
Maurice Lothian, Esq., Procurator-Fiscal for the County of Midlothian
1863
Prof. Blackie
1863
Dante
1863
Sunshine
1863
A Highland lassie
1863
Winter
1863
Posthumous bust in marble
1864
William Lindsay, Esq., Provost of Leith
1864
La Vignarola 'a soft-eyed daughter of the sunny south'
1864
Juanita, an Andalusian coquette
1864
The Rt Hon. Charles Lawson, Lord Provost of Edinburgh
1864
Faith
1865
The Rt Hon. John Inglis, Lord Justice-Clerk
1865
Mrs Rutherford Clark
1865
A Lady
1866
The Rt Hon. Lady Kinnaird
1866
Miss Home of Argaty
1866
William Thomas Thomson, Esq., FRSE
1866
Dr Macleod of Ben-Rydding
1866
Miss Duncan
1866
A child
1866
A gentleman
1867
Miss Ballantine
1867
Penelophon, the beggar maid (Tennyson)
1867
In memorium
1867
Kilmeny
1867
Miss Imlach
1867
A lady
1867
John Richie, Esq., proprietor of The Scotsman newspaper
1867
Robert Cox, Esq., WS
1868
The late Alexander Macduff, Esq., of Bonhard
1868
Our Dora
1868
James Young Esq., of Limefield
1868
The late John Phillip, Esq., RA, HRSA
1868
Prof. Syme
1868
Light in darkness
1868
Dr Livingston
1869
Willie
1869
The late John Phillip, Esq., RA, HRSA
1869
Ruth
1869
The Late John Stewart, Esq., FRS, Nateby Hall, Lancashire
1870
The Late John Graham-Gilbert, RSA
1870
Little Judy
1870
Ada
1870
A lady
1870
Prof. Christison, MD, DCL
1870
Mrs MacLellan, Skye
1870
The late Mrs Hallard
1871
The late Hon. Lord Barncaple
1871
The late Donald Horne, Esq., of Stirkoke
1871
The late J. G. Dymock, Esq.
1871
Mrs Mungo Burton
1871
Mrs John Boyd
1871
Model for head of Statue of the late Professor Graham
1871
Marble bust of Mrs MacLellan, Skye
1871
The late Robert Balfour, Esq., CA
1872
The late Sir James Simpson, Bart, MD, DCL
1872
The late William Brand, Esq., Secretary, Union Bank of Scotland
1872
The late Mrs David Chalmers
1872
Mrs Heugh
1872
The late Mrs Farquharson of Invercauld
1873
The late Mrs J. B. Balfour
1873
Thos Jamieson Boyd, Esq., FRSE, Master of the Merchant Company 1869-71
1873
Mrs Law
1873
Ex-Lord Provost Law
1873
Blind girl reading
1873
Charlie, son of John Cowan, Beeslack
1874
Adam Black Duncan, Esq., Edinburgh
1874
J. S. Fleming, Esq.
1874
Mrs David Jeffrey
1874
The late Robert S. Candlish, DD
1874
David Jeffrey, Esq.
1874
Education
1875
Rebecca at the well
1875
The rising lily's snowy grace
1875
'With laurel leaves her folded robe, Was lightly wreathed around'
1875
A technical scholar
1875
Edith of Lorne
1875
Marble bust of the late James Beaumont Neilson, Esq., Inventor of the Hot Blast
1875 (Circa)
Amy Robsart
1876
The late Miss Frances R. MacGregor
1876
The late Lady Coxe
1876
John Clapperton, Esq., Master of the Merchant Company 1873-74
1876
The parting of Abradates and Panthea (vide Xenophon)
1876
Michael Alexander Russel, son of the late Alexander Russel, Esq.
1877
The late Alexander Russel, Esq., editor of 'The Scotsman'
1877
The late James Simpson, MD, FRSE
1877
A boy
1877
Hesiod
1877
Homer
1877
Dr Robert Moffat
1878
The late Mrs Montgomerie Neilson of Queenshill
1878
Mrs James Ogston of Norwood
1878
The late Hugh Blair, Esq.
1878
David Livingston
1878
Mrs James Auldjo Jamieson
1878
Thomas Carlyle
1879
ARSA 1856, RSA 1875
Helen Alice, daughter of Colin Mackenzie, Esq., of Portmore
1879
David Livingston
1879
Joseph Jefferson
1879
Robert Bryson, Esq., Master of the Merchant Company 1875-1877
1879
The late Robert Horn, Esq., Dean of the Faculty of Advocates
1879
Bust in marble of Dr Angus Smith
1879 (Circa)
Bust in marble of Dr Moffat
1879 (Circa)
The late Mrs H. Brown, life-long friend of Baroness Burdett-Coutts
1880
The late Rev. Principle Harper
1880
The late Mrs Connel Black of Kailzie
1880
Henry Irving
1880
Mrs Bell
1880
Ellen Terry
1880
Head of Corinna
1880
Mrs Twiname
1880
The Rt Hon. Lord President Inglis
1880
Judy
1880
The Maid of Lorne disguised as a page
1880
Livingston
1880
The parting of Hector and Andromanche
1880
Joseph Jefferson
1880
Jeannie Deans on her way to London
1881
The late James Mylne, Esq., WS
1881
The late Thomas Carlyle, from life
1881
Miss Young of Kelly
1881
William Nelson, Esq., Salisbury Green
1881
James Young, Esq., LLD, FRS, of Kelly
1881 (Presumed)
The late Lord Cockburn
1881 (Circa)
Mrs Hutchison
1881 (Circa)
George Combe
1881 (Circa)
Hugh Miller
1881 (Circa)
Locations
Address 9 Coates Place West Maitland Street Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1857
1865d.
Address 10 Cumberland Street Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1847 - 1848
p. 179
Address 10 Randolph Cliff Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1854 - 1857
Address Cambridge Street Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1865 - 1866
Address St. Helen's Cambridge Street Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1866 - 1881
Studio located at 10 North Street Andrew Street Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1850 - 1854
p. 180
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Attended The Royal Scottish Academy Life School
1867 - 1880
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
'Dante'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Works of Deceased and Living Scottish Artists, 1863
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of Works of Deceased and Living Scottish Artists, 1880
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Twenty-Sixth, 1852
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Twenty-Seventh, 1853
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Twenty-Eighth, 1854
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirtieth, 1856
'The captive Chaldean'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-First, 1857
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Third, 1859
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Fourth, 1860
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Fifth, 1861
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Sixth, 1862
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Eighth, 1864
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Ninth, 1865
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fortieth, 1866
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-First, 1867
'Kilmeny'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Third, 1869
'Dr. Livingston'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Fourth, 1870
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Sixth, 1872
'Mrs Heugh'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Seventh, 1873
'Master Partrick Balfour'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Eighth, 1874
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Ninth, 1875
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fiftieth, 1876
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fifty-First, 1877
'The late Alexander Russel, Esq., editor of 'The Scotsman''
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fifty-Second, 1878
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fifty-Third, 1879
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fifty-Fifth, 1881
'A daughter of the artist'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Sixty-First, 1887
'The late Lord Cockburn'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The One-Hundredth - Centenary Exhibition, 1926
'Robert Herdman, RSA'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Fifth, 1951
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Second, 1858
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Second, 1868
'Light in darkness'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Ninetieth, 1916
'Hugh Miller'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fifty-Fourth, 1880
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirty-Seventh, 1863
Multiple works
Exhibited at Tenth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1871
Multiple works
Exhibited at Fourteenth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1875
'Marble bust of the late James Beaumont Neilson, Esq., Inventor of the Hot Blast'
Exhibited at Eighteenth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1879
Multiple works
Exhibited at Royal Academy of Art: The Exhibition of Scottish Art, 1939
p. 101
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Twenty-Ninth, 1855
'Charlotte, daughter of D. O. Hill, Esq., RSA'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Forty-Fifth, 1871
'James Hay, Esq., Leith'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Fifty-Sixth, 1882
'James Young, Esq., LLD, FRS, of Kelly'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1850 - 1881
Exhibited 19 times, average 2 works per year.
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Glasgow, 1901
1901
Taught The Royal Scottish Academy Life School
1867 - 1871
'Visitor to'
Institutional and Business Connections
Committee member of The Scottish Arts Club
1873
member of the inaugural commitee
Elected ARSA The Royal Scottish Academy
1852
Elected RSA The Royal Scottish Academy
1859
Honorary secretary of The Royal Scottish Academy
1876 - 1881
Academy Secretary
Honorary secretary of The Royal Scottish Academy
1876 - 1881
£150
Not Honorary, but elected secretary to to the RSA. (office bearer)
Member of The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
1879 (Circa)
Ordinary Member
Personal and Professional Connections
Apprenticed David Watson Stevenson
1860 (Circa) - 1880 (Circa)
Served an 8 year apprenticeship
Assistant was Alexander Rhind I
1850 (Circa) - 1880 (Circa)
Rhind was originally Brodie's pupil and then stayed on for thirty years as his assistant
Assistant was James Pittendrigh MacGillivray
1869 (Circa) - 1875 (Circa)
Macgillivray entered Brodies studio at age 13
Brother/sibling of Alexander Brodie
1830 - 1867
Teacher to David Watson Stevenson
1860 (Circa)
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1860-1861
p. 400
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1870-1871
p. 432
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1880-1881
p. 482
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1850-1851
1850
Occupation given in 1851 Scotland Census
'Sculptor No Men'
Occupation given in 1861 Scotland Census
'Sculptor Employing 6 Men & One Boy'
Occupation given in 1871 Scotland Census
'Sculptor RSA Employing 8 Men & 8 Boys'
Occupation given in 1881 Scotland Census
'Sculptor'
Sources
1851 Scotland Census
2007
Parish: Edinburgh St Andrew; ED: 6; Page: 9; Line: 16; Roll: 710; Year: 1851
1861 Scotland Census
2007
Parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts; ED: 49; Page: 9; Line: 9; Roll: CSSCT1861_124; Year: 1861
1871 Scotland Census
2007
Parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts; ED: 34; Page: 15; Line: 6; Roll: CSSCT1871_156; Year: 1871
1881 Scotland Census
2007
Parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts; ED: 24; Page: 29; Line: 6; Roll: cssct1881_280; Year: 1881
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
p. 136-44
Annual Exhibition Catalogue for The Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1879
1879
p. 6
Artists' Papers Register
2007
http://www.apr.ac.uk/artists/searches/artistrecs.asp?ARID=GB/NNAF/P3600 (accessed 03/08)
Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1850-1851
1850
p. 286
Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1860-1861
1860
p. 400
Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1870-1871
25 May 1870
p. 432
Edinburgh & Leith Post-Office Directory 1880-1881
1880 (Circa)
p. 482
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
International Exhibition Glasgow, 1901,
Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Section
1901
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Helen E. Smailes, ‘Brodie, William (1815–1881)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3490, accessed 2 April 2008]
The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture
2004
p. 502 & 58
Citing this record
'William Brodie ARSA, RSA', 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=msib6_1203597240, accessed 25 Sep 2023]
