Carlo Marochetti

This portraitback to top

The sculptor Carlo Marochetti was born in Turin and studied art in Paris and Rome. A baron of Italy, he was patronised by Carlo Alberto, Louis Philippe and, after 1848, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and a prominent figure in the London art world, Marochetti was brought in to assist the painter Sir Edwin Landseer achieve the third dimension in sculpting the lions for Trafalgar Square, much to Landseer's indignation. This posthumous bronze shows Marochetti posed in contemplation of his work, with clay tools, plans showing an equestrian statue, steps, calipers and a mallet.

Events of 1888back to top

Current affairs

Charles Ritchie, President of the Local Government Board, is responsible for the Local Government Act, a landmark piece of reform that establishes 62 elected county councils and over sixty county boroughs, with responsibility for roads, bridges, drains and general county business.
Five prostitutes are murdered, and their bodies mutilated, in Whitechapel, East London, by an unidentified killer who became known as 'Jack the Ripper'. The murderer was never discovered.

Art and science

Heinrich Hertz performs experiments validating James Clark Maxwell's model of electromagnetic radiation, a form of wireless energy transfer. His apparatus for generating electromagnetic waves is recognised as the first radio transmitter.
The term 'arts and crafts' is coined by the bookbinder T J Cobden-Sanderson with the establishment of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society.

International

Accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the German throne. Wilhelm, the son of Kaiser Frederick III and Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria, was the last Kaiser of Germany.
George Eastman invents the Kodak box camera, the first commercially successful box camera for roll film, with the slogan 'you press the button - we do the rest'.

Tell us more back to top