Details of Sculptor

Surname

Weston

Alternative Surname

First Name

John, of Exeter

Initial of Surname

W

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

Year of Death

before 1748

Biographical Details

Nothing is known of Weston’s training but he became one of the most accomplished West Country sculptors of the earlier 18th century. His monuments are ambitious and wide-ranging in style, and several of the best incorporate Last judgment reliefs with large numbers of twisting figures (1, 6, 8, 10). Gunnis notes that the figures ‘have all the grace and movement of the Italian Renaissance, while the design anticipates the work of William Blake’.
The first recorded reference to Weston was on 2 February 1723 when the dean and chapter of Exeter rented out to him a shed and courtlage in the Close at an annual rent of 25/-. The land tax assessment for 1730 valued his house in the parish of St Mary Major at £6 10s. That year John Weston, freeman, became surveyor and clerk of works to the dean and chapter and was accorded a loft and workshop in the cloisters, valued at £6 10s. This appointment terminated in 1741 or 1742. In 1745 he became a member of the Exeter Association in support of King George II. Three years later he had evidently died for the land tax records refer to the ‘late Mr Weston’s house’.
His signed works include wall tablets (3, 5) and architectural monuments with full-sized attendant figures (1, 4, 8, 10). The Ivie monument, originally a much larger work, was first erected in St Kerrian, Exeter, but when the church was pulled down the relief was moved to St Petrock (6). According to Cresswell, it was signed by Weston and its architectural surround was probably similar to those of the Kelland (now dismantled) and Scobell monuments (1, 10). The tablet to Francis Pengelly is also an architectural composition and flanking the monument are symbolic figures of Learning and Justice (8). The Hobbs has a baldacchino with hanging curtains, raised on either side by figures to reveal the inscription tablet. Below is a shield carved with spades, scythes, coronets, a skull and crossed bones (7). A late work, the memorial to a sailor, John Taylor, reflects the deceased man’s occupation: it has a portrait medallion, naval trophies, medals of Queen Anne and King George I and below, a fine relief of Taylor’s ship engaging 4 triremes, probably manned by Moorish pirates (11).
Easter doubts that Weston is the author of the monument to Benjamin Dolen, †1700, in Exeter Cathedral, questioning Gunnis’s claim that it is signed. It has an uncharacteristic bust above a heavily moulded frame adorned with a wealth of swirls and foliage and a ship in profile in the lowest curve. Easter suggests however that the memorial to Sir Thomas Northmore, †1713, at St Thomas, Exeter, may well be Weston’s work since it too has a characteristic relief of the Last judgment. He argues also for the William Williams, †1713, at St Thomas, Exeter, on stylistic grounds.
Literary References: Cresswell 1908, 147; Gunnis 1952 (2), 1337; Little 1952, 1659; Gunnis 1968, 429-50; Easter 1995, 84-89