[This category comprises sculpture in (a) cemeteries and (b) inside churches but not public monuments, such as E. H. Baily's Horatio Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square or Thomas Brock's Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace.

In addition to the works listed below, we currently have more than 300 examples of funerary sculpture. Interested? Take a tour by clicking here and then on "next" in each document that appears. — George P. Landow.]


“Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, pompous in the grave.” Really there should be colon after animal. — Clive James quoting Sir Thomas Browne

There are many contributory factors to the wide spread of funerary monuments across early nineteenth-century Britain, and their increasing export to India and the West Indies: the rapid growth in the number of churches, the hangover of medieval attitudes to death, the social influence of the church, the nation's readiness to go to war, the social obligation to believe in Christian resurrection, the primitive state of medicine, and thus the inability of the wealthy to buy more effective treatment. The natural consequence of the wealthy buying commissions for their sons in the army and navy was the timely appearance of church monuments when they were killed. Away from the heat of battle, sickness and death would also make their way, late or soon, through all classes. . . . Funerary sculptors' markets were aided by England's unique canal and river system, at the peak of utility in the 1820s and 1830s. To move a 10-ton monument from London to the Midlands, for example, meant a short wagon journey along hard city roads to the Paddington or Pimlico canal basins, followed by a frictionless passage as far as you liked. — James Hamilton

Sculpture in the round

Bas reliefs