Details of Sculptor

Surname

Theakston

Alternative Surname

First Name

Joseph

Initial of Surname

T

Year of Birth/Baptism

1772

Flourished

Year of Death

1842

Biographical Details

Theakston was born on 14 December 1772, the son of John Theakston, and was christened a week later at Saint Michael Spurriergate, York. His father died when he was young and his mother, Sarah, apprenticed him in 1786 to John Fisher I. He became free in 1794 and shortly afterwards went to London, where he became one of the last assistants to John Bacon RA, by whom he was well paid. According to the Gentleman’s Magazine he ‘formed his style on the amenities of that eminent artist’ (GM 1842, vol 17, pt 1, 672). He subsequently worked for John Flaxman RA and E H Baily.
In 1809 he exhibited a design for a monument at the Royal Academy (1), giving his address as 10 New Road, Fitzroy Square, and in 1813 he showed a bust from a new address in Winchester Street, Pentonville (43). His earliest dateable monument depicts the dying Susannah Boutflower and her family in very high relief (3). In 1817 he competed to provide four monuments for St Paul’s Cathedral, but failed to gain any of the commissions (4-7). The following year he began to work with with one of the successful competitors, Sir Francis Chantrey. There he remained until the end of Chantrey’s life.
According to Peter Cunningham, who knew him well, Theakston became one of Chantrey’s three most prized assistants, together with Frederick William Smith and James Heffernan. Chiefly responsible for the carving of draperies, Theakston ‘was a consummate master in making marble convey the qualities and surfaces of silks and satins, velvets and ermines’ (Builder 1863, 112), and unlike others in the studio he was happy for visitors to the studio to watch him at work. As a result the writer of his obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine was able to give a lengthy description of the working practice of the sculptor, whose hand ‘scarcely seemed to move; few could imagine the rapidity of his execution from his quiet manner of handling his tools... When he began to carve a statue he knew perfectly well what was required of him and cut away the superfluous marble at once. He had not to try again, and again, like most artists, and by frequent touching and retouching accomplish his object’ (GM 1842, vol 17, pt 1, 672).
Theakston was able to pursue his own successful practice despite his responsibilities to Chantrey. In 1821 he undertook ‘the Herculean task’ of restoring and cleaning the railings in Westminster Abbey (English Chronicle 20 Dec 1821), and the same year he executed a statue of a late chief magistrate of Weymouth for that town’s Guildhall (39). He had a thriving practice as a monumental statuary, producing chiefly Hellenistic tablets, , though the memorial to Anthony Hamond has a full-size statue of an angel above a sarcophagus (9), and another to William Davey has a medallion-portrait (19). The monument to Roger Wilson has reliefs of five Preston churches which were erected largely on his initiative (36). Following his master’s lead Theakston produced a number of busts, including one in 1830 of either George IV or William IV, which he appears to have carved at Snelston Hall, the home of his patron John Harrison (46). He was also responsible for architectural sculpture (49) and his magnificent chimneypiece for Buckingham Palace has been described by Gunnis as the most imposing in the building (48). In addition he apparently ‘had more than common skill in Gothic architecture’ (GM 1842, vol 17, pt 1, 672), although no specimens of his work in this style or medium are known.
After 1825 he lived in Belgrave Place, Pimlico, where he died on 14 April 1842. He was buried in the Anglican chapel in Kensal Green cemetery near his wife Elizabeth (28). In his will he directed that his estate should be sold and the proceeds shared between seven of his eight children. He died waiting for the full payment of ‘a considerable sum on the balance of an account for work and labour done for the late Sir Francis Chantrey’ and directed that his executor, Hugh James, a tailor of Bond Street, should ‘apply to my friend Allan Cunningham and promise his assistance in settling and adjusting the said account.’ He also directed that ‘my present assistant John Thomas [John Evan Thomas?] complete any work which may be in hand and unfinished’ Two of the sculptor’s children, Charles Delatre Theakston and John Henry Theakston, followed his profession.
Peter Cunningham said of Theakston that he was ‘a fine, venerable, kind-hearted man, ever prompt with a kind word and a kind smile’ (Builder 1863, 112), whilst the Gentleman’s Magazine described him as ‘by nature gentle and affectionate, yet firm, as most calm hearts are’. Of his work the same writer adjudged Theakston ‘perhaps, the ablest drapery or ornamental carver of his time, as he was certainly the most rapid’ (GM 1842, vol 17, pt 1, 672).
MGS
Literary References: Graves 1875, 534; Graves VII, 1905-6, 351-2; Gunnis 1968, 384-5; Chantrey Ledgers 1991-2, 10; Curl 2001, 242
Archival References: IGI; York App Reg D15, 19 Oct 1767, 71; Flaxman Papers BL Ad MS 39784
Will: PROB 11/1971/233