Details of Sculptor

Surname

Greenshields

Alternative Surname

First Name

John, of Lanark

Initial of Surname

G

Year of Birth/Baptism

1795

Flourished

Year of Death

1835

Biographical Details

A Scottish mason-sculptor, he became famous when his work was promoted by Sir Walter Scott. He born at Lesmaghow, near Lanark in 1795, the eldest of 6 sons of James Greenshields and his wife Betty Jack. When he was young the family moved to Willans, near Carluke, on the Clyde, and he began his career as an apprentice mason in the neighbouring village of Crossford. He made his first attempts at sculpture during his leisure hours, carving a figure of a dog in stone and modelling portraits of his father and one of his brothers in clay (17, 18). When he was about 30 he went to work for Robert Forrest, who was then engaged on a statue of Lord Melville for Edinburgh. Greenshields’ friendship with Forrest stimulated his interest in sculpture and while working as a journeyman in Glasgow, he devoted much of his free time to artistic studies.
During the first years of his independent practice Greenshields was employed principally on commissions for gravestones, architectural decoration and ornamental figures for gateposts and gardens. However he also worked on a speculative project, a small stone statue of Lord Byron (3). This was sent to John Flaxman whose positive response encouraged Greenshields to produce a life-sized version and to carve several more figures including a statue of the politician George Canning, executed in 1827, which attracted much attention when it was exhibited in Edinburgh and led to extensive patronage, particularly in Scottish literary circles (2).
His early patrons included several influential Scottish landowners and the publisher William Blackwood. William Lockhart of Cambusnethan provided the sculptor with blocks of freestone for statues of the Duke of York and King George IV, and when the Duke of York’s statue was completed James Stewart of Allanbank arranged for it to be displayed to potential patrons at Brompton (1, 4). Blackwood was a regular advisor to the sculptor, particularly in matters relating to the sale of his work and he may have provided financial assistance as well as business guidance when Greenshields began to market small plaster reproductions of his statues. The 8th Earl of Elgin invited Greenshields to his estate, Broomhall in Fife, to study his art treasures and both he and James Stewart recommended Greenshields to Sir Walter Scott. While staying with William Lockhart in 1829 Scott visited Greenshields’ studio on Lockhart’s estate. He was greatly impressed by the sculptor’s work and proposed providing financial assistance to enable him to study in London, but the offer was declined.
Greenshields received considerable publicity from the meeting with Scott and from his visits to Broomhall and to Blackwood’s house in Edinburgh. There he met Professor John Wilson who, under the name Christopher North, wrote a long-running column in Blackwood’s Magazine in which he parodied well-known literary figures. Wilson called the sculptor an original genius. His workshop in Willans soon became such a fashionable visiting place that he was obliged to restrict visitors to one day a week to enable him to work undisturbed.
In the early 1830s Greenshields, impressed by the popularity of the work of James Thom, began to produce figures based on the writings of Robert Burns. His group The Jolly Beggars was a particular success (11): it was exhibited in several cities, including London, where it was on display in 1836, when Greenshields died. The previous year he had won the competition for the Glasgow statue of Sir Walter Scott, a work that was unfinished at his death and was completed by John Ritchie (12).
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 180; Woodward 1977, vol 1, pt 2, 87-90