Details of Sculptor

Surname

Arnald

Alternative Surname

First Name

Sebastian Wyndham

Initial of Surname

A

Year of Birth/Baptism

1806

Flourished

Year of Death

Biographical Details

A son of the landscape painter, George Arnald, ARA, he was christened on 4 January 1806 at Grasmere, Westmorland. He attended the Royal Academy Schools in 1824, winning the gold medal in 1831 for his group, The massacre of the innocents (1), the first of numerous works on biblical subjects. He exhibited this work, and also War in heaven (12) at Burlington House the following year. The former was considered ‘not a subject for the public eye’ as it could ‘be viewed by the artist or amateur only as [an] academic exercise[s]’ (Lit Gaz, no 805, 23 June 1832, 395). The latter, now lost, was described at some length by the Library of Fine Arts and was praised as ‘a composition in no way discreditable to the English school.’ The critic, however, felt that the falling figures showed such ability that one might wish that ‘more majesty had been given to the archangel, whose position and form seem inadequate to the task he has accomplished of ejecting the rebel host’ (Library of Fine Arts 1831, 1, 430). Arnald exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1823-1841, showing both ideal works and busts, including heads of his father (2) and of George Garrard (5). He also exhibited at the Birmingham Society of Artists.
He may later have abandoned sculpture for painting, since he did not exhibit at the Academy for some years after 1840. When finally he submitted a work in 1846 it was a canvas of Christian and Pliable in the Slough of Despond.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 66; Pyke 1973, 7
Archival References: RA premium list; IGI