Thomas Campbell
Born 1 May 1790
Died 4 February 1858
Active: 1813 - 1858
Country of birth: Scotland
Country of death: England
Sculptor, marble cutter
Born in Tolbooth parish, Edinburgh. Thomas's younger brother James (1810–1833) became his pupil and studio assistant in Rome and then in London. He was first apprenticed to John Marshall, marble cutter of Leith Walk, Edinburgh.
After completing several small commissions between 1813-15 he attracted the patronage of Gilbert Innes of Stow (d.1832), deputy governor of the Royal Bank of Scotland. A loan from Innes enabled Campbell to study at the Royal Academy Schools (admitted 8 January 1818) and then to set up a studio in Rome (1819). Whilst in London he received informal tuition from Joseph Nollekens and was an assistant to Edward Hodges Baily.
Campbell's practice flourished during the decade he lived in Rome. Smailes (2004) considers him the 'doyen of Scottish expatriate sculptors.' One of his more poignant tasks was to make the headstone for the young Scottish sculptor, Robert Leslie (1802-27) who was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
Over the winter of 1829-30 Campbell set up a studio in London having already received a number of significant commissions for statues and public monuments. Despite numerous commissions and remaining a bachelor he left a fairly small estate on his death at 1 Great Castle Street, London.
Wealth at death: £600 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 7 July 1858
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.
The late Sir James Gibson-Craig Bart, of Riccarton
Colin Mackenzie Esq., of Portmore
Sir James Gibson-Craig of Riccarton
Portrait of a lady as a Muse
1851
The late Sir James Gibson-Craig Bart, of Riccarton
1856
Ebenezer Gilchrist, Esq., late manager of the British Linen Bank, Edinburgh
1863
Locations
Address 16 Great Marlborough Street London England | View on map
1833 (Circa) - 1857 (Circa)
Sources differ as to whether he was at number 15 or 16
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
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
'The late Sir James Gibson-Craig Bart, of Riccarton'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Thirtieth, 1856
'The late Sir James Gibson-Craig Bart, of Riccarton'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, The Ninetieth, 1916
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1827 - 1857
Exhibited 23 times (4 times from 1851), an 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
Work loaned by patron
Sources
'Memorial sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome: New discoveries and an inventory of identified works'
2022
p. 195 and p. 211
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 183-7
International Exhibition Glasgow, 1901,
Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Section
1901
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Helen E. Smailes, ‘Campbell, Thomas (1791–1858)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4535, accessed 3 Feb 2010]
Citing this record
'Thomas Campbell', 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=msib7_1206702561, accessed 28 Sep 2023]
