Charles Summers

Born 27 July 1825
Died 24 November 1878

Active: 1844 - 1878

Country of birth: England

Country of death: France

Sculptor

Born at Charlton Mackrell, Somerset. He was the son of George Summers, a builder and mason. Charles showed an early talent for taking likenesses but because his father's business ran into difficulties he worked in the building trade from an early age. In about 1844 he attracted the attention of the sculptor Henry Weekes while assisting in the erection of a monument at Weston-super-Mare. On the strength of this, Summers moved to London and worked as a polisher in Weekes' studio. This was followed by a period assisting Musgrave Lewthwaite Watson (1804-47) including the colossal group of Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell (now in the library of University College, Oxford) which he helped finish after the sculptor's death.

In 1848 Summers entered the Royal Academy Schools and was awarded a number of medals for modelling and also received a prize for a work exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851. He was diagnosed with suspected tuberculosis in 1852 and advised to emigrate to Australia. Summers arrived in Melbourne (following his brothers and father) and after a slow start, established a very successful practice, becoming the pre-eminent sculptor in Australia. He held various educational positions and was active in promoting the earliest artists’ society in Melbourne, the Victorian Society of Fine Arts.
Summers' His work as a sculptor included portrait busts, prize medallions and large free-standing statues and monuments.

In 1866 he returned to England and the following year settled in Rome where he established a studio that is said to have employed about 20 assistants at the time of his death. Summers' reputation was such that he continued to produce work for Australia as well as England throughout this time. Among his best-known pupils were pupils were Charles Stanford and Margaret Thomas. Summer's son, Charles Francis Summers (1857-1945), also became a sculptor and worked with the Italian sculptors Giovanni Battista Lombardi and Giovanni Maria Benzoni. Charles Summers died after an operation at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Rome.

Wealth at death: £300 0s. 0d.
This was his personal estate in England, it is assumed he had a larger estate in Italy where his studio was located.
Probate date: 9 December 1878

Citing this record

'Charles Summers', 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_1206707116, accessed 29 May 2023]