Details of Sculptor

Surname

Legé

Alternative Surname

First Name

F A

Initial of Surname

L

Year of Birth/Baptism

1779

Flourished

1826

Year of Death

1837

Biographical Details

A Prussian immigrant, in the early 1800s he was principal carver in the workshops of Samuel and Thomas Franceys in Liverpool, where he was assisted by John Gibson. In 1805 he carved a coat of arms for the Union News room in Liverpool (20) and in 1814 be exhibited a colossal figure of Satan in Edinburgh where it apparently aroused hostility for in 1815 it was reported that ‘some intrusive Goth has dared to mutilate it’ (Scots Magazine, 1815, 334) (4). Around that time he moved to London and found employment in the studio of Francis Chantrey. There he worked on a small model of Satan (8) and carved the monument known as The sleeping children from Chantrey’s model (2). After Chantrey’s death questions were raised about the extent of Legé’s involvement in the creation of some of his Chantrey’s famous works, including The sleeping children.
Legé exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1814-25, showing ideal works and portraits, including busts of Chantrey and Charles Harriott Smith (13, 14). Gunnis particularly admired a small marble figure of a lady reclining on a couch (11), commenting ‘This enchanting and delicate work might at first sight be taken for contemporary French sculpture, for it has all the charm of that country. On closer examination, however, it shows that curious virginal English frigidity which seems to add to its beauty’ (Gunnis 1968, 237).
The sculptor’s son, George Legé, was awarded a Society of Arts prize for a work of sculpture in 1826 but he does not seem to have exhibited, and died before his father. Legé himself died on 4 April, 1837, leaving two children, Ann, a governess in Russia, and Frederick, a private soldier. He had providently joined the Artists’ Annuity Fund in 1813 and his widow received payments from the fund from 1837 to 1844.
Literary References: Notes and Queries, 6 July 1850, 94; Gunnis 1968, 237; Curtis 1989, 23, 50; Sicca and Yarrington 2000, 135, 141
Archival References: AAF, Proposals, 10; AAF, AB