Details of Sculptor

Surname

Brown

Alternative Surname

First Name

Alfred

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1844-56

Year of Death

Biographical Details

Brown won a silver medal for a model at the Royal Academy Schools in 1844 (10) and a second silver medal the following year, together with the gold medal for a relief, The hours leading forth the horses of the sun (7, 13). He exhibited at the RA between 1845 and 1855 and sent a statuette of the Duke of Wellington to the British Institution in 1853 (4). His statue of David before Saul was displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851 (2). M H Grant later commented ‘His art was chiefly poetical and mythological, but he excelled in horses, whilst statues of C Napier [3] and David showed another side to his accomplishment’ (Grant 1953, cited by Bilbey 2002, 224). Brown was also a designer of silver. His models for the trophy presented by the Emperor of Russia for Ascot races in 1845 and a large candelabrum presented to the 8th Marquess of Tweeddale by his friends in India in 1850 were exhibited at the RA (11, 18). He designed a magnificent jewelled and enamelled gold vase decorated with reliefs and surmounted by a group representing ‘the United Kingdom as symbolised by Britannia, Scotia and Hibernia’ (AJ Cat 1851, 281) and a testimonial centrepiece with figures of ‘the sister muses who preside over dramatic and musical festivals’ (19, 20) which were displayed at the Great Exhibition (AJ Cat 1851, 57-8). The latter was executed by the silversmiths Hunt and Roskell and in 1856 Brown designed and modelled a silver centrepiece for the 7th Earl of Stamford, realised by the same firm (21). This cost £2,500 and must have been a substantial piece, for it weighed 112 pounds.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 64; Bilbey 2002, 224
Archival References: RA premium list