Alexander Munro
Other names: Alec
Born 26 October 1825
Died 1 January 1871
Active: 1839 - 1870
Country of birth: Scotland
Country of death: France
Sculptor
Born in Inverness, Scotland. He was the son of John Munro, a dyer. Alexander's early education was funded by Peter Scott, rector of Inverness Academy and local patrons who recognized his talent for carving thick slate pencils. In 1844 Harriet, duchess of Sutherland, arranged with Charles Barry for him to work on the new Houses of Parliament. Munro then worked under John Thomas and Patric Park, enrolling at the Royal Academy Schools in 1847.
Munro became a close friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and through this a member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. He also became acquainted with F. D. Maurice and John Ruskin around 1855 when, together with Thomas Woolner, he began teaching at the Working Men's College in Great Ormond Street.
He executed a number of architectural schemes as well as creating busts and ideal works. In 1865 he developed cancer and he died of this disease in 1871 in Cannes, France.
Wealth at death: £5,000 0s. 0d.
Left less than £5,000
Probate date: 10 October 1871
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.
Child play - marble group - the children of Herbert Ingram, Esq.
Young Romilly
1863
Humphrey Davy
1860 (Circa)
Hippocrates
1860 (Circa)
Isaac Newton
1860 (Circa)
Galileo Galilei
1860 (Circa)
Gottfried Leibnitz
1860 (Circa)
James Watt
1860 (Circa)
Francesca di Rimini and Paolo
1851
Paolo e Francesca
1852
Paolo and Francesca
1851 - 1852
Locations
Address Fisherrow Musselburgh | View on map
1839 (Circa) - 1854 (Circa)
Address 33 Brewer Street Golden Square London | View on map
1851
Address Chelsea London | View on map
1851 (Presumed)
Also gave this address in 1860 [see 'Family Notes' by David Davies]
Address 6 Upper Belgrave Place London | View on map
1852 - 1867
Address 65 Upper Belgrave Place London | View on map
1858 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
Multiple works
Exhibited at Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts (Leeds), 1853
'Subject from Dante'
Exhibited at International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Dublin, 1865
no. 34. 'Boy and Dog' - marble group.
no. 211. 'Twilight' - Marble basso-relievo.
Offered for sale 30-0-0.
no. 212. 'Sabrina' - Marble alto-relievo.
Offered for sale 120-0-0.
no. 213. 'Maternal Joy' - Marble basso-relievo.
Offered for sale 80-0-0.
p. 112, no. 217. 'Joan of Arc' - Statue in marble.
Offered for sale 150-0-0.
p. 112, no. 219. 'A Gillie and Hound' - Group in marble.
Offered for sale 630-0-0.
p. 112, no. 220. 'Boy Asleep' - plaster.
Offered for sale 26-5-0.
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
p.51
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1839 - 1858
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 5 times: 1839 (1 work), 1840 (1 work), 1854 (7 works), 1856 (4 works) and 1858 (5 works)
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1849 - 1871
Exhibited 22 times (twice before 1851), usually 5 to 6 works per year.
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, 1861-1951
1865
Exhibited once (7 works)
Exhibited at Festival of Britain, London: Ten Decades, a Review of British Taste, 1851-1951, 1951
1951
Munro's 'Portrait of the Artist's Wife' (representing the period 1861-1870) was lent by Dr H. A. Munro, and exhibited posthumously.
Institutional and Business Connections
Member of Institute of British Sculptors
1856 (Circa) - 1860 (Circa)
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
p. 1803
Sources
'Family Notes' by David Davies
p.34
Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts, 8 Bond Street, Leeds, 1853
1853 (Presumed)
Cat. Nos. 524, 550, pp. 23, 24
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
List of Members: Institute of British Sculptors (or Sculptor's Institute)
2008 (Circa)
Official Catalogue of Dublin International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures 1865
1865
pp. 102, 111, 112
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Katharine Macdonald, ‘Munro, Alexander (1825–1871)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19545, accessed 16 Nov 2009]
Oxford Natural History Museum: the Statues in the Court
2008
pp. 2-6
Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1860
p. 1803
Rules of the Institute of Sculptors
1861
p. iv (confirms his membership had ceased in 1861)
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
1852
p.65
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
1855
p.63
Citing this record
'Alexander Munro', 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_1206711353, accessed 01 Apr 2023]
