Flaxman, John

Flaxman, John (1755-1826), English sculptor and illustrator, a leader of the Neo-Classical movement in England. Born in York, he studied at the Royal Academy school in London. From 1775 to 1787 he made delicate relief decorations, modelled on Greek and Roman pottery, for the noted potter Josiah Wedgwood. From 1787 to 1794 Flaxman worked in Rome, where he made spare but expressive line drawings for the ancient Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey (1793). Returning to London in 1794, he illustrated the works of the ancient Greek dramatist Aeschylus and those of Dante. He also sculpted many monuments, notably that to William Murray, 1st earl of Mansfield (1801, Westminster Abbey). Flaxman was the first Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy schools.