John Steell

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File:SirJohnSteell.jpg
Sir John Steell by Hill & Adamson, circa 1845
File:Wellington 2 (7043197777).jpg
The Duke of Wellington on Princes Street, Steell's most famous work
File:Alexander & Bucephalus by John Steell.JPG
Alexander & Bucephalus by John Steell (Edinburgh City Chambers)
File:Sir Walter Scott statue at Scott Monument.jpg
Sir Walter Scott statue at Scott Monument
File:Statue of Allan Ramsay in West Princes Street Gardens, close-up.JPG
Statue of Allan Ramsay in West Princes Street Gardens, close-up

Sir John Robert Steell Template:Post-nominals (Aberdeen 18 September 1804 – 15 September 1891) was a Scottish sculptor.<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref> He modelled many of the leading figures of Scottish history and culture,<ref>Normand, Tom (2013), Portfolio: Treasures from the Diploma Collection of the Royal Scottish Academy, Luath Press Ltd. Edinburgh, p. 24</ref> and is best known for a number of sculptures displayed in Edinburgh, including the statue of Sir Walter Scott at the base of the Scott Monument.

Biography

Steell was born in Aberdeen, but his family moved to 5 Calton Hill in Edinburgh in 1806.<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851</ref> He was one of the thirteen children (eleven surviving beyond infancy) of John Steell senior (1779–1849), a carver and gilder, and his wife, Margaret Gourlay, the daughter of William Gourlay, a Dundee shipbuilder. As the family grew they moved to a larger house at 20 Calton Hill.<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1819–20</ref> Due to his father's own fame as a sculptor, for much of his early working career he is referred to as John Steel Junior.

Steell initially followed his father, training to be a carver himself, being apprenticed in 1818. In 1819 his father was declared bankrupt by the Trades of Calton, bringing much shame on the family.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, John Junior showed artistic talent, and despite this, the family sent him to study art at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh, under Andrew Wilson.<ref>http://217.204.55.158/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2570Template:Dead link</ref>

Working with his father from studios at 6 Hanover Street, his first major step came in 1827 when the North British Fire Insurance Company, at 1 Hanover Street, commissioned a huge timber statue of St Andrew to be placed on the outside of their office. now housed within the Lodge Room premises of Lodge Dalkeith Kilwinning in Dalkeith. The work appears closely based on a sketch of a statue of St Andrew in Rome by François Duquesnoy. As the office stood immediately opposite the Royal Scottish Academy it was quickly noticed by Edinburgh's artistic society, and acknowledged as a fine work. In 1829, spurred on by the success of this work, he travelled to Rome to study sculpture more intensely.<ref>http://217.204.55.158/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2570Template:Dead link</ref>

The first work to attract international attention was Alexander taming Bucephalus carved in 1832–33 (cast in bronze in 1883, and now standing in the quadrangle of Edinburgh City Chambers).<ref>Scott Manning, Alexander, Bucephalus, and Pig’s Ears in Scotland, retrieved April 2, 2018.</ref> Around 1838 he was appointed as Sculptor to Her Majesty the Queen, a post which was later recognised as part of the Royal Household in Scotland.<ref>The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, Vol. 7 "The Crown", para 848</ref> In 1840 he opened Scotland's first foundry on Grove Street in Edinburgh, dedicated to sculpture, to cast his statue of Wellington himself.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1854 he commissioned a new house for himself at 24 Greenhill Gardens and lived there for the rest of his life. His fame by then was international, receiving commissions from the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Prior to this he had lived at 3 Randolph Place on the edge of the Moray Estate in Edinburgh's West End.<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1846–47</ref>

He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy, and was knighted in 1876 following the unveiling, by Queen Victoria, of his statue The Prince Consort, which stands in the centre of Charlotte Square in Edinburgh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Steell died at home, 24 Greenhill Gardens<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1890–91</ref> in Edinburgh's southern suburbs, on 15 September 1891 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Edinburgh's Old Calton Cemetery. This grave was purchased by his father John Steell senior and many members of the Steell and Gourlay families are also interred there.

Family

In 1826 he married Elizabeth Graham, daughter of John Graham, an Edinburgh merchant.

His eldest son, William Steell (1836–1917), appears to have been an architect but of minimal note. One of his few recorded works is the pedestal for John's statue of Dr Thomas Chalmers on George Street in Edinburgh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

His youngest son, Graham Steell<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was a prominent British physician and cardiologist who is best known for identifying the cardiac murmur that bears his name.

Sir John Steell's brother Gourlay Steell was a noted animal painter: he was Queen Victoria's animal painter, taking over from Sir Edwin Landseer. Many of Gourlay Steell's paintings remain in the private collection of Queen Elizabeth II. His portrait was painted by Robert Scott Lauder and William Grant Stevenson (Aberdeen Art Gallery).

Works

Steell's works include:

Notes

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References

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