John Flaxman

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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John Flaxman

by John Flaxman
plaster cast of medallion, circa 1790-1795
5 7/8 in. (149 mm) diameter
Purchased, 1931
Primary Collection
NPG 2487

Sitterback to top

  • John Flaxman (1755-1826), Sculptor. Sitter in 22 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 14 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • John Flaxman (1755-1826), Sculptor. Artist or producer associated with 14 portraits, Sitter in 22 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This plaster cast, done in Rome or in London soon after the sculptor's return in 1794, is also found in the form of a Wedgwood Jasper relief. In his early years, Flaxman was employed by Josiah Wedgwood to design cameos, friezes and portrait medallions. Although this roundel and its pair show him and his wife, they reveal much about the artist and his patron. The original wax portraits, from which these medallions were cast, were probably made while the Flaxmans lived in Rome under Wedgwood's sponsorship.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG 2488: Anne Flaxman (née Denman) (companion portrait)

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1790back to top

Current affairs

Attempts to modify the Test and Corporation Acts are defeated, despite campaigning by dissenters such as the prominent Unitarian preacher and pamphleteer, Richard Price. The Acts prevented those outside the established church from holding government or military office.

Art and science

Joseph Mallord William Turner exhibits his first painting at the Royal Academy; a watercolour of The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth.
The Firth to Clyde and Oxford to Birmingham canals are begun.

International

Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France. A landmark work of opposition to the Revolution which offered a critique of the radical philosophy behind events in France; the Reflections have been read as an articulation of the foundations of modern British conservatism. George Vancouver explores the north west coast of America.

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