Details of Sculptor

Surname

Williams

Alternative Surname

First Name

Richard

Initial of Surname

W

Year of Birth/Baptism

1799

Flourished

Year of Death

Biographical Details

The son of Solomon Williams, an Irish historical and portrait painter, he studied at the Dublin Society Schools under John Smyth, winning the first prize for sculpture in 1816. In 1815, 1817 and 1819, while still studying, he exhibited at Hawkins Street. In 1820 he moved to London and joined the Royal Academy Schools, winning silver medals in 1820 and 1823 (6, 8). He exhibited at the RA between 1822 and 1832, showing both portraits and ideal works, from several addresses: 1 York Street, Foley Place; 41 York Square, Diorama; 99 Grove Street, Camden Town; and 7 Cadogan Street, Sloane Street. He was elected a member of the Artists’ Annuity Fund in 1822. He was probably the ‘Mr Williams’ who, while working as an assistant to J C F Rossi, carved a seated female figure with her arms around her legs for the Earl of Egremont (1). This was based on a model by Joseph Nollekens bought by the Earl at Nollekens’s posthumous sale. Williams became became blind in 1841 (AGBI Archives, in Gunnis 1968, 433).
Literary References: Strickland II, 1913, 536; Smith II, 1920, 5-6; Hutchison 1960-2, 173; Gunnis 1968, 233
Archival References: AAF, Proposals, 51