Introduction

The London firm of Messrs Farmer and Brindley (both were called William) "specialised in providing architectural sculpture under contract to varying degrees and as such represent a significant phenomenon in the development of architectural sculpture during the nineteenth century" (Read 240). They were responsible for all the architectural sculpture on Alfred Waterhouse's Manchester Town Hall, for example, and were used again for the decoration of his Natural History Museum.

William Brindley (1832-1919) seems to have been the one to carry out the commissions — the "executant" (Read 240). Sir George Gilbert Scott said he was "the best carver I have met with and the one who best understands my views" (qtd. in Read 265). Amongst the firm's work for Scott, Read lists the model of the Albert Memorial, the ornamental work on it, the capitals and so on of Scott's Government Offices in Whitehall, and the carving for his major ecclesiastical restoration work at Exeter, Worcester and Gloucester (265-56). — Jacqueline Banerjee

Architectural Sculpture: Columns, Bas Reliefs

Architectural Sculpture: Figures in the round

Ecclesiastical Sculpture and Memorials

Related Material

Bibliography

Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1982.

Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.


Last modified 16 May 2013